Five carriers bid for Cape Girardeau air service

The companies vying for Cape Girardeau's subsidized commercial passenger service believe there is a large untapped market here.

On Tuesday, the bids from five companies seeking a U.S. Department of Transportation contract to provide service in Cape Girardeau were unveiled.

The proposals, which were due Monday, include three carriers offering flights to St. Louis, two offering flights to Memphis, Tenn., and a fifth carrier proposing a variety of destinations that include Branson, Mo., Kansas City, Nashville, Tenn., Little Rock, Ark., and Cincinnati.

One-way fares under the proposals would range from as little as $50 to St. Louis up to $150 to Memphis.

The Southeast Missourian contacted four of the five companies submitting bids. All said they were eager to prove they can provide viable service at low fares. They pointed to 2006, the last year Cape Girardeau Regional Airport had reliable service for a full year, as evidence there are customers who would prefer to fly rather than drive to a major metropolitan airport. Nearly 8,000 passengers boarded RegionsAir flights in 2006. Through July 31, 404 passengers have boarded at the airport this year.

The proposals all seek subsidies under the Essential Air Service Program, a federally funded effort to support passenger service for smaller communities. Cape Girardeau's service was offered in a package with Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Decatur, Ill., Marion-Herrin, Ill., Quincy, Ill., and Burlington, Iowa. Airlines were allowed to bid on one, some or all of the contracts.

Shane Storz, vice president of Air Choice One of Farmington, Mo., which is offering an option that includes two flights daily to St. Louis and two to Memphis, said his company has the flexibility to meet passenger demands. Air Choice One was the only other bidder besides Great Lakes Airlines during an emergency contract offering in early 2008 after Big Sky Airlines closed operations.

The city chose Great Lakes over Air Choice One because it had a lengthy history of operations, while Air Choice One was a startup with no passenger contracts. Since then, Air Choice One has begun serving Kirksville, Mo., while Great Lakes Airlines has generated complaints from airport manager Bruce Loy that its two daily flights don't provide the connections passengers want.

Loy said the bids will be closely reviewed and that he will set a date for meeting of the airport's advisory board.

Great Lakes did not seek to renew its contract in Cape Girardeau. That contract expires Nov. 1.

Low prices -- Air Choice One envisions ticket prices of $50 to $85 one-way -- will help bring passengers back, Storz said. "What the community needs to know, no matter who comes in, is that it is going to take some time to get those passengers back off the highway," he said.

Along with Air Choice One, the companies vying to provide the service, and receive subsidies of $1.25 million to $2.2 million a year, include Locair, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., carrier; Alaska Juneau Aeronautics Inc. of Portland, Ore., doing business as SeaPort Airlines; Hyannis Air Service Inc. of Hyannis, Mass., doing business as Cape Air; and Gulfstream International Airlines of Fort Lauderdale.

One of the most ambitious proposals was offered by Locair, which bid on the contracts for Cape Girardeau, Quincy and Decatur. Locair wants to offer customers the choice of nonstop flights to Kansas City, Branson, Paducah, Ky., Nashville and Bowling Green, Ky. Locair would provide one-stop service to Little Rock, Wichita, Kan., Atlanta and Cincinnati.

The first route would be flights to Kansas City, said Nathan Vallier, general manager of Locair. "I need to find out where you want to go," he said. "If none of these work out, then I'll try Dallas, Chicago and Memphis. We could change fairly easily."

An online poll at semissourian.com received almost 1,000 votes, and 62 percent of those responding said they wanted flights to St. Louis. The second choice, at 21.2 percent, was Chicago.

Hyannis Air Services, which is known as Cape Air because of its service to locations on the Massachusetts coast, said it will be ready to use methods that have made it profitable in the Northeast and the Caribbean, said Michelle Haynes, communications spokeswoman.

The employee-owned airline emphasizes service. And while it uses nine-seat aircraft, it adds flights to the schedule when demand requires it, Haynes said.

"We want to make our customers happy and have a good time doing it," Haynes said. "We have thousands of people we help, and you have to make sure you are there when they want you to be."

Gulfstream Airlines submitted a bid requesting the Transportation Department award it all six cities or none. While a code-sharing arrangement with a major carrier is important, said Mickey Bowman, vice president of corporate development, it isn't essential.

"We honestly believe that the traffic can be brought back," Bowman said. "You have to provide reliable service, and a code share is important. Lastly we feel that fares have been a bit skewed and we are proposing a very low add-on fare."

Gulfstream expects to charge $50 each way to St. Louis.

The Department of Transportation has set a deadline of Sept. 16 to receive community recommendations about the choice of carriers, department spokesman Bill Mosley said. Contracts will be awarded as soon as possible after the community comment period ends, he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Air service bidders

Five air carriers are competing to provide subsidized commercial passenger service from the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Great Lakes Airlines, the current service provider, did not seek to renew its contract. The applicants are:

Applicant Destination Fare estimate Subsidy requested

Gulfstream International St. Louis $50 $1.88 million

SeaPort Airlines Memphis $150 $1.1 million

Locair Various $72.50 $1.25 million

CapeAir St. Louis $48 $1.7 million

AirChoiceOne St. Louis/Memphis $50-$85 $1.6-$2.2 million

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, Cape Girardeau, MO