MORE AIRPORT ACTION; RESTAURANT A DRAW

The number of planes that flew into or left the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport was on the rise in the first few months of 1999.

Plane traffic at the airport increased by about 15 percent over the same period last year. From January to March, 4,582 planes arrived or departed at the airport. That number was 3,953 for the same period during 1998. During March, the total number was 2,113 compared to 1,432 for 1998.

"I know from the comments of some pilots that they come for the restaurant," said Bruce Loy, airport manager. Mac's Smokehouse now operates out of the airport.

Loy presented the monthly usage report at an advisory board meeting Tuesday night.

The number of passengers for Trans World Express was 585 for the year so far, but passenger totals did not include shuttle flights for Procter & Gamble employees.

With the addition of an airplane manufacturer at the airport, more activity at the airport is expected. The city hopes to finalize a lease agreement with Zenair of Canada Ltd. by the end of April. The airplane manufacturer would eventually employ 100 people at its plant.

With the addition of a potable water line and Zenair's manufacturing at the airport, the city is "just that much farther ahead" for attracting other companies, said Dan Overbey, an advisory board member.

The airport should attract more attention with its new logo.

"We wanted to be progressive and try to tie in the location to the river," said Loy. The logo will be used for letterhead and business cards.

"We wanted a logo that people would see and say 'Oh, that's the airport,'" Loy said.

The logo, which was designed by Chris Jacquot of Spectrum Graphics in Murphysboro, Ill., also will be used on a sign at the road leading to the airport.

It can also be integrated into a logo for the air festival in July.