Airport manager: SkyWest flights require Cape airport upgrades

Cape Girardeau’s airport terminal needs to expand its lobby seating and secured-passenger holding area if SkyWest provides commuter airline service here, airport manager Bruce Loy said Tuesday.

The city also would need to upgrade its airport rescue and firefighting response because of SkyWest Airlines’ larger aircraft, he said.

The airport board and city staff are reviewing proposals from five commuter airlines, including current service provider Cape Air.

Cape Air’s contract expires in November.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which spends several million dollars each year subsidizing airline service to Cape Girardeau, will make the final decision.

All but SkyWest would use eight- or nine-passenger airplanes to ferry customers to St. Louis or other destinations.

SkyWest has proposed using a 50-passenger, twin-engine jet that would provide two round trips daily to Chicago, with one of the trips involving a stop in Quincy, Illinois.

Loy said upgrades to the airport’s fire service would include annual live fire training for at least a dozen firefighters and fire-apparatus standby at the airport for four hours from Monday through Friday and two hours Saturday and Sunday.

Rescue and firefighting services could cost $25,000 to $150,000 a year, depending on whether the airport has to pay for part-time firefighters or hire as many as three new firefighters, he said.

Another option would be to cross train airport staff to help in such emergencies, Loy said, adding city staff have no cost estimate for such a scenario.

Live-fire training could cost more than $7,000, Loy wrote in a report to the advisory board.

Loy said the city would need to provide more lobby seating to handle up to 50 passengers on a flight. New seating could cost as much as much as $12,490, he told the board at its meeting in the terminal.

In addition, the secured lounge, where passengers wait to board scheduled flights, would require improvements, Loy said.

The project would involve removing and relocating aluminum dividers with glass and acquiring and installing three new dividers at a cost of more than $5,100, he wrote in the report.

The airport board heard a presentation from Southern Airways at Tuesday’s meeting.

The board plans to meet Wednesday with representatives of SkyWest and Boutique Air. Cape Air officials are scheduled to meet with the board Thursday.

Board members are scheduled to meet with Air Choice One representatives Monday.

Loy said the advisory board will make a recommendation to the city council later this month. The council must make a final recommendation to the U.S. Department of Transportation by July 28.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

860 Limbaugh Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.