CAPE AIRPORT MANAGER SEEKS CHICAGO ROUTE

Bolstered by robust new boarding numbers and a new marketing plan, Airport Manager Randy Holdman said this week he will try to land a commuter airline with service to Chicago. He also hopes to find a third carrier to serve southern destinations within three years.

Holdman, who has been the airport manager since June, earlier this week outlined to the city council his plan to spur aviation growth at the airport. He told the council the 484 boardings in October, normally a slow month, were the highest in three years.

His three-pronged approach aims at improving the quality of the airport's commercial and general aviation along with developing its nascent industrial aviation base.

"We need all three in concert with each other. They are synergistic," he said.

In that vein, beginning on Nov. 21 the airport will offer flyers a chance to draw two free tickets to anywhere in the U.S., including Hawaii.

In January, two free tickets will be offered anywhere TWA flies internationally.

The airport recently conducted a survey of 20 Southeast Missouri travel agencies, and the search for a Chicago commuter airline fits in with the findings.

All 20 of the agencies named Chicago as their clients' most frequent destination and the destination they would most like to see added to the airport's service.

"It looks like 650 people a month are going to Chicago out of our area," Holdman said.

Holdman said he plans to approach Midway Connection, a new commuter airline beginning to service cities within a 300-mile radius of Chicago.

If the plan works, attracting still another carrier for southern destinations will be more feasible, Holdman said.

"If we can have two successful carriers, we can go to, say, American Eagle in Nashville."

The survey also found that travelers wish the existing carrier offered an early Sunday afternoon departure. Holdman said Trans World Express, the airport's commercial carrier, will begin early Sunday afternoon service in January.

The survey also found that a significant number of travelers who use the Municipal Airport come from outside the expected 40-mile radius. "We're truly a regional airport," Holdman said.

He warns that the federal government has been in a mood to curtail funding for the Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes the commercial carrier service at the airport.

"We cannot afford to live on EAS as a community," Holdman said.

A new hangar is one of the facility needs he pointed out to the council.

"If we get a second airline, and let's be optimistic, say this winter, we have no place to put it," Holdman said.

Asked how riverboat gambling might affect the airport's situation, Holdman noted that a stop in Cape Girardeau on the Branson Express that flies from Branson to Nashville is a natural. He pointed out that Cape Girardeau is halfway between the two cities.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said the city council is confident that the money the city is investing at the airport is well-spent.

"I think Randy's overall approach will pay off," Fischer said.