Passenger service returning to Cape airport

Great Lakes Airlines will begin flights from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis International Airport on May 19.

Flights from Cape Girardeau depart at 8:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. and from St. Louis at 7:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m.

Saying he was "thrilled" over the return of service, airport manager Bruce Loy added that once the airline gets more planes, a third daily round-trip flight will be added to the schedule.

According to a statement released late Friday by the city, Great Lakes still does not have enough airplanes for all the communities it serves under Essential Air Service contracts with the federal government. The airline has agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration to serve Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Tenn., and Owensboro, Ky., as well as nearly 30 other regional airports.

"We are able to source from existing aircraft time in our fleet to begin this long-awaited return of service to Cape Girardeau," Great Lakes chief executive officer Chuck Howell said in the statement.

As of Friday, Great Lakes' Web site did not list Cape Girardeau among its airports. No date is set for service for the Owensboro or Jackson airports.

Great Lakes' fleet includes Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia and Raytheon/Beech 1900D planes. The airline has code-share agreements with United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. A code-share arrangement allows shared reservations, and the parent airline provides a portion of the passenger's total ticket price to the feeding airline to obtain access to passengers flying on the smaller carrier.

According to Loy, a round-trip ticket will cost $138, plus taxes and fees.

Bootheel-Area Rapid Transportation charges $60 for its shuttle to the St. Louis airport, $120 for a round trip and $130 for door-to-door service. Cape County Transit Authority charges $1.25 per mile for airport shuttle service; a round trip to Lambert International costs $350.