Cape looks to keep Skywest; board rejects other airlines offering more flights

Cape Girardeau officials want to keep the city’s passenger service to Chicago, citing increased boardings that ultimately could funnel more federal dollars to the local airport.

The city council has recommended the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) award another two-year Essential Air Service (ESA) contract to SkyWest Airlines, doing business as United Express.

The Utah-based commuter airline proposes to provide 12 weekly round-trip, direct flights to Chicago, which is a step up from its current schedule, Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Bruce Loy said Tuesday.

The existing schedule involves fewer direct flights with some flights having stops in Paducah, Kentucky.

The new schedule would have two direct round-trip flights a day, Monday through Friday, and one each on Saturday and Sunday, Loy said.

According to Loy, the change could be “a major benefit” for area residents wanting to travel to Chicago or catch connecting flights.

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

Without such subsidies, air carriers would find it uneconomical to serve small airports.

SkyWest is seeking a subsidy of $3.37 million annually to provide air service to Cape Girardeau. That amount is equal to $2,757 per trip or $135 per passenger based on a 40% load factor, according to the proposal.

SkyWest and two other air carriers submitted proposals to provide passenger service, Loy said.

The other two were St. Louis-based Air Choice One and San Francisco-based Boutique Air.

Those airlines proposed 24-weekly round trips to varying destinations, including Chicago, St. Louis and Nashville, Tennessee.

But airport advisory board members rejected those proposals, citing the fact the two airlines fly eight- or nine-seat aircraft.

Loy wrote in a report to the council such small aircraft would make it “nearly impossible” to reach 10,000 boardings in a year.

Reaching that threshold would allow the Cape Girardeau airport to secure $1 million in federal Airport Improvement Program grant money. The city would receive that funding each year it has 10,000 or more boardings, officials said.

United Express began offering round-trip flights on 50-seat jets to Chicago on Dec. 1, 2017, under a two-year ESA contract.

Since then, passenger boardings have nearly doubled, and boardings are on track to break the 10,000-passenger threshold this year for the first time in more than two decades, city officials said.

The Cape Girardeau airport had 1,289 boardings last month, “probably the highest month we have had in a couple of decades,” Loy said.

For the first seven months of this year, the airport has had 6,688 boardings and could wind up with more than 11,000 boardings by year’s end, he said.

Loy said the city would receive $2 million in federal grant money over the life of the ESA contract with SkyWest if the airport has sufficient boardings over that two-year period.

The city also would receive about $400,000 in revenue from SkyWest over the next two years from rental of airport office space, ramp and landing fees and fuel sales, according to Loy.

The final decision on which air carrier will serve Cape Girardeau rests with the federal government, but the DOT typically chooses the airline recommended by city officials, Loy said.

The new contract to provide passenger service between Cape Girardeau and Chicago should begin Dec. 1, Loy said.

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