Contour Airlines asks DOT to approve flights from Cape Girardeau to Chicago

The chief executive officer of Contour Airlines has filed a request with the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace Cape Girardeau Regional Airport’s service to Nashville.

Contour CEO Matthew Chaifetz requested that the Smyrna, Tennessee, company, doing business as Corporate Flight Management Inc., operate Essential Air Service (EAS) flights not to the Tennessee capital’s Nashville International Airport, a medium hub airport, but instead to the larger hub airport of Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

“The community of Cape Girardeau supports this proposed amended service pattern,” Chaifetz said in a Monday, June 17 letter to DOT associate director of EAS Kevin Schlemmer and DOT aviation industry analyst Michael Martin. “Contour is not proposing any modifications to the contractual payment terms nor to substitute materially different aircraft.”

If approved by the DOT, the service change would take effect Oct. 1, 2024. Contour would provide 12 round trip flights per week from Cape Girardeau Regional Airport to Chicago.

In his request, Chaifetz said Contour currently has no plans to revert the service back to Nashville International Airport, but he asked for the flexibility to do so in the future if the need arises.

This would not be the first time passengers can fly from Cape Girardeau to Chicago. Previous service there ended after St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Airlines announced in March 2022 that they would cease EAS service to Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and 28 other regional airports across the country.

EAS is a program where the DOT subsidizes airlines to provide service to smaller airports. There are currently more than 150 such airports taking advantage of it.

A DOT ruling required SkyWest to continue service to the 29 locations they were leaving until a new carrier could be found. Cape Girardeau Regional Airport found its new carrier in Contour, and flights to Nashville began Oct. 18, 2022.

Katrina Amos, Cape Girardeau Regional Airport’s manager, said the airport had been exploring options for flights to Chicago for the last few months.

“Chicago had served us well with the previous carrier, and flights to Chicago is where we saw our highest enplanement numbers in recent history. We've always wanted to go back to Chicago if the opportunity presented itself, but it had to be the right opportunity,” Amos told the Southeast Missourian.

The airport is currently expanding through various capital improvement projects including a new terminal, T-hangar construction and taxiway reconstruction.

“This news does come at a great time when we are close to opening our new passenger terminal facility and we will continue to explore options to provide the best service to our community,” Amos said.

She said Contour would release additional information about the service change once the DOT approves it.