Counting to 10,000

Although 22 percent more people took to Cape Girardeau's friendly skies in 2002 over the prior year, that still wasn't quite enough to bring home the big bucks.

The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport came up 954 shy of reaching 10,000 people boarding planes in a year, the number required to become eligible for $1 million in federal grant money, money that would go toward repairs and facility additions to the airport. The money would have to be used for the good of the public and the safety of the airfield, said Bruce Loy, airport manager.

Loy said the city is actively pursuing getting a fourth daily flight out of Cape Girardeau, a step that he says would make 10,000 enplanements a shoo-in.

Even if Corporate Airlines, doing business as American Connection, continues with three flights per day to St. Louis, the airport will get 10,000 enplanements next year, if the recent trend of increasing enplanements continues.

In 2000, 6,708 people took off from the airport, followed by 7,388 in 2001 and 9,046 in 2002. That translates into a 10 percent and 22 percent increase in back-to-back years.

Loy said the airport reached the 10,000-passenger mark in 1998 and 1999, but that number dropped when Procter & Gamble stopped using the airport for its charter flights.

Loy attributes the increases mainly to the airline. The significant increases started in the spring of 2001, which marked about one year of Corporate's service at Cape Girardeau.

Before Corporate provided flights here, Trans States was Cape Girardeau's only airline. Loy said that company's overall service was inconsistent.

But he doesn't have the same complaints about Corporate.

"It has been a reliable and efficient airline," Loy said. "They have friendly employees, and once people try it, they like it, and they're beginning to get a lot of repeat customers."

Corporate connects passengers to American Airlines. The fact that American bought out Trans World Airlines has also added to the increase, Loy said.

Loy also said passengers are flying out of Cape Girardeau more these days because of shorter lines for security. As long as passengers stay with American, Loy said, they don't have to go through security again in St. Louis.

Corporate president Doug Caldwell agreed.

"The average cost of flying out of Cape is only $30 or $40 more than if they originated out of St. Louis," Caldwell said. "What a bargain that is. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than what the gas is to drive up there and the parking. And the checking-in time is 45 minutes before your flight in Cape Girardeau as opposed to two hours in St. Louis. More and more people are coming around to that conclusion."

Donna Rosanswank of Cape Girardeau was preparing to fly out of the local airport en route to Las Vegas on a business trip. A change in jobs meant she'll be flying out of Cape Girardeau much more often.

She said she likes the convenience of the airport. She doesn't always save time -- she sometimes has a layover in St. Louis of about the same amount of time it would take to drive -- but it's a lot less stressful, she said.

November slide

The airport saw an increase every month in 2002 except for November, when 596 people took off, compared to 647 in 2001.

That figure puzzles Loy. He said he didn't know why the numbers were down that month.

"It was really slow the first couple weeks and really picked up around Thanksgiving," he said.

December was also down -- the airport had 658 enplanements, up three from 2001. But Loy said the recent snowstorms played a key role in that.

Loy said the airport will continue to increase its marketing and advertising, but the main thing he said that will take the airport above the 10,000 enplanement goal is the extra flight. The airline, he said, will want some guarantees that they won't lose money on adding that flight. Loy said he hopes to raise money from the private sector, asking businesses to place money budgeted for flights into a trust fund for Corporate.

Loy said he has not yet asked for financial backing, but he said if a fourth flight is going to happen, it will start this year, perhaps in a few months.

If the airport supported 10,000 enplanements in a year, it would have to come up with a $100,000 match to receive the $1 million grant.

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127