FEDS MAY KEEP CAPE TOWER OPEN AFTER ALL

A Federal Aviation Administration official has concluded that the control tower at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is "mission essential."

That conclusion leaves city officials and airport advisory board members optimistic that the FAA will continue to fund the airport tower. The city expects a final decision from the FAA this month.

The mission-essential determination was made by Neil Planzer, FAA director of air traffic. City officials learned of the designation in a Sept. 25 letter from Sharon Calabro of the FAA's regional office in Kansas City.

Calabro wrote that as soon as the budget is in place for fiscal 1996, the FAA will pay for all services dating back to Oct. 1, the start of the federal year.

"It does look positive," said Greg Chenoweth, airport manager.

J. Fred Waltz, airport board chairman, agreed. "We went from nowhere to mission essential," he said.

Doug Leslie, interim city manager, said: "In our reasoning, it would be awfully hard to cut off funding for something that is determined mission essential."

The FAA had talked of possibly closing some 23 air-traffic-control towers nationwide, including the Cape Girardeau tower. The move would save the government an estimated $5 million annually.

City officials and Missouri's federal lawmakers have gone to bat to retain federal funding for the tower.

The FAA said any decision to cancel tower funding would be based on a cost-benefit analysis. City officials believe Cape Girardeau's cost-benefit ratio meets the FAA's criteria for continued federal funding.

The FAA was paying $170,000 a year to the city to operate the local tower. U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond said that is about 30 percent less than many similar towers.

The city recently decided to pick up the cost of liability insurance, lowering the FAA's annual cost to about $145,000. Chenoweth said that move may have saved funding for the tower.

"We were riding right on the bubble as it was," he said.

Chenoweth said the cost-benefit analysis took a look at projected traffic at the airport over the next 15 years.

Waltz said continued funding for the tower is vital to the airport's success. "If you don't have a tower, then you run in jeopardy of losing all kinds of air traffic."