PENDING LAWSUIT HASN'T DETERRED AIRPORT GROWTH

MAP -- MUNICIPAL AIRPORT

Lawsuit or no lawsuit, the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport is on the verge of sprouting bigger and better wings.

While the city and Cape Central Airways, the airport's fixed-base operator, slug it out in court over an eviction notice, new players continue to emerge to develop aviation-related industry and lure executive clients to use the airport.

Former airport manager Randy Holdman understood the long-range potential of the airport when he took over 14 months ago. Holdman figured out he was in charge of a sleeping giant. The next step was to find a way to rouse the giant from its lengthy slumber.

That is why Holdman courted William Florich, an aviation consultant based in St. Louis with a reputation for gathering big-time players. The game Florich has in mind has yet to be played here.

But Florich, who is retired from the Air Force and at one time managed the A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. investment office here, has both the credentials and friends to wake the sleeping giant.

Florich left Cape Girardeau for St. Louis to become an investment banker. After the bank he was working for merged with another bank, Florich went into his own business to provide data for mutual funds. He has since sold his half of that company and is working full-time as an aviation consultant.

The way to go at the Cape Girardeau airport, Florich thinks, is to test the waters for an executive fixed-base operation. And, if the response if favorable, Holdman thinks someone could develop plans for an aviation web of aircraft engineering, testing, maintenance and restoration.

Holdman, who has a history for doing his homework, scouted the area for the kind of talent it would take to transform a local operation into a regional facility.

It would have to be something powerful enough to take business away from Lambert Airport in St. Louis, the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield and other facilities north and south of Cape.

Holdman told Florich there are plenty of talented and experienced people for such an operation who already live here. Florich looked into it and told Holdman he was on to something.

So Florich helped Holdman launch a questionnaire in March asking potential executive clients what they wanted. Those surveyed were asked to list, in order of importance, services they would need to do business with Cape Girardeau's airport facility.

The results told Holdman what he already suspected. Busy aviation operators are more interested in fixed-base operators who are efficient and reliable than in limousine service or whether someone carries their bags from the car to the plane. A fixed-base operator provides essentially the same services for airplanes that full-service filling stations offer for automobiles.

Others told Holdman Cape Girardeau needed a fixed-base operator that flew by stringent rules rather than by the seat of its pants.

That kind of warning didn't worry Florich. He figures the fight between the city and Cape Central Airways isn't something he can control. However, Florich and the investors he represents intend to keep a watchful eye on the results of the court battle, because Cape Central Airways remains the biggest obstacle to the kind of progress these new players envision.

The history of Cape Central Airways is that it hasn't encouraged projects like the one Florich is proposing.

But Florich isn't interested in the past. He will only talk about his development project and not the obstacle keeping him from his mission. "I've told the city that what goes on with the fixed-base operator and them is their business and not mine," said Florich, who has been given unanimous approval for his project by the Cape Girardeau Airport Board.

Florich has a $1 option for six months from the Cape Girardeau City Council to lease 7.6 acres on the north side of the airport terminal on behalf of Leopold Corp., a group of investors interested in pursuing Florich's plans for development here.

The property that Leopold is interested in runs along the western edge of the Cape Central Airways operation.

City Attorney Warren Wells said the $1 option is standard for attractive development plans such as this. "The city has no intention of leasing the land for $1," said Wells. "Once Leopold Corp. exercises the option for the land, negotiations will begin on a price for the property."

City officials don't have a lease figure in mind. However, Assistant City Attorney Doug Leslie said the city isn't likely to spurn a project that could enhance the value of prime airport land. Leslie calls Florich's development plan "a positive economic development for the city."

Cape Central Airways rents space at the airport for $1,700 a month. The city is asking for double rental payments since April 25, the second time Cape Central Airways was told to leave the premises.

If Florich is able to develop land north of the airport terminal the way he plans, those in the know say rental property at the airport would likely be worth much more than what Cape Central Airways agreed to pay when its lease agreement was struck in April 1992.

Holdman, who has moved on to a new job with Drury Southwest Inc., left behind a protege who shares his ambition for the airport. Andy Perry continues the quest of turning a local aviation facility into a regional hub.

Although Perry is just 23, he is just a few hours away from completing his master's in aviation. Perry, a native of Kahoka in the northeastern corner of Missouri, has a degree in aviation technology from Central Missouri State University.

Perry, who is the interim airport operations manager, sees the Cape Girardeau airport as a facility that could benefit from his background and further his ambitions to become a part of "something that is ready to explode." If not, he is confident he can eventually find an airport that meets his needs.

The city has put a deadline of Aug. 31 on its quest to find a new airport manager. Meanwhile Perry continues to follow through on Holdman's plan of encouraging travel agents to send business to Trans World Express, a feeder for Trans World Airlines.

"Randy Holdman did some phenomenal things in just 13 months," said Perry. "He got TWE boardings up 25 percent, which is way above the national average. Probably the thing Randy did that they don't teach in aviation programs is that you've got to have an aggressive marketing plan to make something bigger than it already is."

TWE continues to break records at the airport. TWE's boardings for July totaled 604, the highest number recorded in four years. The increase in boardings at Cape Girardeau are 15 percent above the national average.

"Three years from now you won't even be able to recognize this place," predicted Perry. "In October we will celebrate the year anniversary of the new terminal building. There is a two-year plan for a new runway, and you can see this place is only going to grow. Just how fast could depend on the development around the airport."