Cape airport soars with 10,000 boardings, more funding

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has drawn more than 10,000 passenger boardings this calendar year, opening the door to another $850,000 in federal funding for the airport, city officials said Wednesday.

The 10,000-boardings threshold was reached last week for the first time in more than two decades, airport manager Bruce Loy said.

Loy said he expects the airport will have experienced “somewhere between” 11,000 and 12,000 boardings by the end of the year.

“This has been a long time coming and we couldn’t be happier,” Loy said. “That is truly quite an accomplishment.”

Cape Girardeau’s airport in the past received $150,000 annually in federal funding. Now, it will receive $1 million annually.

At that level, the airport can combine federal funds with local tax revenue approved by voters in August to build a new control tower and terminal for the regional airport, city officials said.

The city recently secured $600,000 in federal grant money to help fund airport improvements as a result of a new federal law, which provides additional funding to small airports that have at least 8,000 passenger boardings in a year.

The local airport had 8,891 passenger boardings in 2018, according to city officials.

But the long-term goal was always to reach the 10,000-boardings mark and the $1 million coming with it.

Mayor Bob Fox said federal funding lags behind the boarding numbers. He told the Southeast Missourian editorial board Wednesday the increased federal funding, resulting from this year’s boardings, won’t be available to the city until fiscal 2021.

The city would receive that funding each year it has 10,000 or more boardings, officials said.

Loy and other city officials have credited the increased boardings to SkyWest Airlines, operating as United Express. The airline began offering round-trip flights on 50-seat jets to Chicago on Dec. 1, 2017, as part of the Essential Air Service program.

Under the program, the federal government subsidizes air passenger service to Cape Girardeau and other small airports.

The current two-year contract ends at the end of this month.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation recently approved a new two-year agreement with SkyWest as recommended by the city council and the airport advisory board, Loy said.

The Utah-based commuter airline will provide 12 weekly round-trip, direct flights to Chicago.

In addition to ticket revenue, SkyWest is slated to receive a federal subsidy of $3.37 million annually to provide air service to Cape Girardeau.

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