Lambert Airport sees downturn as expansion moves forward

ST. LOUIS -- The number of flights at Lambert Airport are expected to sink to a 22-year low this year, even as the airport works on a $1.1 billion runway expansion project, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.

Other American airports expect to see domestic airplane boardings return to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels some time next year. But that doesn't hold true for the St. Louis airport. Federal forecasts indicate Lambert might need more than 20 years to recover from its losses, if it ever does at all.

A recession, the terrorist airplane hijackings and war all hit commercial aviation hard in recent years. But the Post-Dispatch found previous signs of a downturn at Lambert. There were three years of declining air service at the airport before Sept. 11, 2001.

The shaky finances of Trans World Airlines were another past sign of trouble. It once appeared that St. Louis would find another suitor if TWA filed for bankruptcy, as it did for the final time in early 2001.

Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., American Airlines' parent company, bought most of TWA's assets in 2001, with plans to keep St. Louis as a major hub. But American cut its St. Louis schedule in half in November.

The Post said another warning sign was that no airlines signed on to provide passenger service at nearby MidAmerica Airport in Illinois while it was under construction. The two airlines that have tried to operate out of the Mascoutah airport since then were not successful there.

Now, takeoffs and landings at Lambert are expected to be at 312,362 this year, their lowest levels since 1982. By comparison, the airport had 489,000 takeoffs and landings in 2000, according to FAA forecasts.

Lambert director Leonard L. Griggs Jr. said, "To sit in front of you and tell you that we will ever get back to the 1,800 flights we had per day at the height of Lambert -- probably not.

"But I think we will be able to get a balance to where the business community, the traveling public and those people who come to St. Louis for both pleasure and business ... will be able to satisfy their travel demands." The airport has been working hard to bring more flights to St. Louis, and has added about 50 since American's announced reductions.

Griggs said the new runway being built is still needed. "We still have a capacity problem at this airport --even with the traffic being down-- when we get bad weather."

Lambert's two main parallel runways are too close together to allow takeoffs and landings on them at the same time during bad weather. Airport officials said that causes delays.

However, airport commissioner John Krekeler said he thinks the "awkward" layout of the new runway will not provide the weather relief Lambert wants.

Krekeler called the new runway plan "a tremendous waste of money." But a task force that investigated the airport's future advised that Lambert, where $740 million has been spent on the new runway construction project, cannot walk away from its expansion plan.