Cape Airport reaches important enplanement milestone

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport was able to reach an important enplanement milestone despite a somewhat tumultuous 2022.

Airport manager Katrina Amos presented her 2022 annual report to Airport Advisory Board members Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Cape Girardeau was able to clear the 8,000 enplanement marker — making the airport eligible for $600,000 in federal finding — with 8,132 enplanements this past year in spite of former carrier SkyWest's termination of service in March. Cape Girardeau was among 30 communities where service was canceled by the airline.

For several months, waivers were granted to allow the Utah-based carrier to operate fewer flights to and from Cape Girardeau than its agreement called for while officials received bids for other carriers. Eventually, Contour Aviation was approved by the Cape Girardeau City Council members in the summer but did not begin operation until mid-October.

"I think it was challenging, but I feel like we all navigated it together," Amos said of 2022. "I'm just grateful for where we are headed, and we're off to a great start."

Amos said Contour has worked to address some issues the airline has had in the early stages of operation in Cape Girardeau. Enplanements in January were down 26%, but Amos said most of the delays and the cancellations were weather-related and the operation has been running more smoothly in recent weeks.

SkyWest flights made up more than 6,400 of 2022 enplanements with Contour providing an additional 1,420 in about two and a half months of operation at the end of the year. The remaining 300 enplanements were from Cape Air and Southeast Missouri State University charter flights. In 2021, the airport registered 8,889 boardings.

Despite the slight enplanement decrease, air traffic at the airport has gone "through the roof" in recent years, Amos said. When she started at the airport 15 years ago, Cape Girardeau was averaging 50 to 60 operations per day. She said that's now more than 200 per day.

The airport manager also provided updates to various projects at the airport.

The contract for the new $12 million terminal at the airport is expected to be approved formally at the City Council meeting Monday, Feb. 20. She said the expectation is to break ground on the project in March or April.

Taxiway Bravo has been under construction since last fall. It was being resurfaced after a 2021 state survey of the surfaces at the airport rated it a 28 out of 100. The $4.8 million project was funded using a portion of the city's American Rescue Plan Act funds. Amos said contractors still need to add reflective beads to the taxiway's markings but need more consecutive days of good weather to install them. The new pavement is also prone to freezing.

Amos said the city will begin advertising later this month for proposals for the $2.9 million T-hangar construction project at the airport. Initial plans were to construct 26 hangars to fill the need at the airport, however, rising construction costs may limit the number that can be built at one time — each hangar costs around $200,000 to build — Amos said. The plan is to build as many as they can using the funding allocated and leave space for more in the future.

The airport manager said around 70 aircraft are based at the airport and 11 are currently on waitlist. The airport has 20 T-hangars.

Additional T-hangars will result in additional revenue streams through leases and fuel sales at the airport, Amos said.

Also at the meeting, Amos said she was having preliminary conversations with Contour about adding another destination from Cape Girardeau, in addition to Nashville, Tennessee.