Great Lakes named air carrier for Cape

Great Lakes Airlines on Friday was named the new commercial passenger carrier for Cape Girardeau, airport manager Bruce Loy said.

Great Lakes was one of two bidders to provide service to Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Tenn., and Owensboro, Ky. In the announcement from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the decision on which airport would be the destination from each city was left to negotiations between Great Lakes and the cities, Loy said.

There is, so far, no indication from Great Lakes on when service will begin, Loy said.

"I get the impression that within a month we will have a closer estimate on when they will start service," Loy said.

The transportation agency in December began an emergency process to name a replacement carrier after Big Sky Airlines announced they would pull out of Cape Girardeau and other eastern U.S. markets as of Jan. 7. Big Sky Airlines won the bid to replace RegionsAir in March, but did not start flying from Cape Girardeau until November. When it announced it was ending service, Big Sky cited high fuel costs and other problems that it said were forcing it out of business.

Commercial passenger service from Cape Girardeau is subsidized under the Essential Air Service program. Great Lakes asked for a $4.5 million annual subsidy to provide service to the three cities.

The roadblocks to providing service include both the need for Great Lakes to acquire the 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900 aircraft that will fly the routes and the need to hire pilots. The transportation department has said it will assist Great Lakes in obtaining the needed aircraft from Big Sky and from Mesa Airlines, another carrier that recently announced cutbacks in service.

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