Cape City Council advances airport terminal project

By a unanimous vote of Cape Girardeau City Council this week, a new 18,300-square-foot passenger terminal at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport came a step closer to reality.

Burns and McDonnell Engineering, with offices in St. Louis, was approved as "owner's representative for design and construction" for the city-owned airport in northern Scott County.

"A new terminal building is a game changer for our regional airport," Mayor Bob Fox said.

"It will prepare us for continuing growth and enable us to one day have more flights to different destinations."

The current terminal at CGI, the official airport code designation for Cape Girardeau Regional Airport assigned by the International Air Transport Association, has roughly 13,000-square-feet under roof.

The city's Airport Advisory Board was informed Aug. 10 by manager Katrina Amos she envisions ground being broken in different locations on airport property in 2022.

In addition to a new terminal, Amos said a fuel farm and T-hangers, considered the most space-efficient way to store aircraft at local and regional airports, are also in the works.

The terminal is part of the Terminal Access Master Plan (TAMP), which is to be funded by the city's capital improvements sales tax and also by some proceeds of the $17.5 million federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant.

"Use of the CARES money is a one-time opportunity and there is a deadline to use the funds," Amos said in January, adding airport officials are being "fiscally responsible" in the grant's expenditure.

Tower on hold

Originally, airport officials had a new air traffic control tower on the drawing board but this particular piece of TAMP will be delayed as CGI studies the future possibility of a virtual tower at Cape Girardeau Regional.

"(Virtual towers) are new and are being tested; they're cutting edge," said Amos, who said she viewed a virtual ATC tower in action in November at a similar-sized airport in Leesburg, Virginia.

"With a virtual tower, you're essentially in a conference room with about 16 television screens giving you a 360-degree view and you are operating and controlling (air) traffic from there, using TV to guide you rather than looking out an elevated window as in a traditional tower."

Amos points out virtual towers are not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as the agency tries to ensure their viability.

"From my perspective and from city leadership as well, we're building a tower that's going to be here for 50 or 60 years. We want to make sure whatever technology we go with will be able to stand the test of time," she said.

Amos said a virtual tower should not be as expensive as a bricks-and-mortar traditional ATC structure -- perhaps as much as $1 million less costly.

"There would be a cost savings with virtual but we're certainly not looking at the financial part of it but rather what's best, long term, for the airport."

Fox seconds this thinking and agrees with waiting to see what the technology holds.

"Virtual towers may be the thing of the future and could still offer us and Southeast Missouri State University a more varied training ground for the future," he said.

SEMO, for the first time this fall, is offering a professional pilot bachelor's degree program in partnership with Cape Girardeau Regional and Texas-based U.S. Aviation Group. USAG will provide the instruction as well as the aircraft.