MoDOT visits Cape Girardeau Regional Airport

Officials from the Missouri Department of Transportation are hopping around the state to tout a new airport system plan.

Joe Pestka, MoDOT's aviation administrator, appeared at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Thursday to discuss forecasts for the industry with airport and business representatives from throughout Southeast Missouri.

Visitors were treated to an open house event and a video presentation about the new plan.

Pestka answered questions and listened to the needs of those attending, which included pavement maintenance, hangar construction, extending runways and building taxi-ways for support vehicles.

He'll take those suggestions back to Jefferson City to be reviewed for an eventual five-year capital improvement plan.

There are 20 airports in MoDOT's Southeast District. Cape Girardeau has the most operations -- landings and takeoffs -- of any of them. In 2002, the airport housed 49 aircraft and one jet with 26,761 operations. By 2022, the city's airport is forecasted to house 59 aircraft and three jets with 39,000 operations. Those projections are based on the number of businesses in the area with a propensity to use aviation and regional population growth.

Although a couple regions of the state -- Branson and south of Kansas City -- are having faster population growth than Southeast Missouri, the district is still doing well, Pestka said.

In fact, Missouri's aviation industry in general is very healthy, he said.

"Our growth has exceeded the national average in terms of activity," he said. "We're growing at a faster rate than many states."