Proposals could provide local air service to Chicago, Nashville or other destinations

Editor's note: This story has been edited to correct Cape Air's affiliation with certain airlines. The Southeast Missourian regrets the error.

Area residents could fly from the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport to destinations beyond St. Louis under plans being considered by city officials.

Destinations could include cities such as Chicago; Atlanta; or Nashville or Memphis, Tennessee, under federally subsidized Essential Air Service proposals city officials are considering.

St. Louis also would remain an option under several of the proposals — and the only option in the case of the current carrier, Cape Air, airport manager Bruce Loy said Thursday.

Cape Girardeau’s airport advisory board and city staff are reviewing proposals from five commuter airlines, Loy said.

Pamela Vaillanchort, right, holds onto her mother, Sandy Pomerleau, left, and sister, Shelly Rosenberg, center, before getting onto her plane to St. Louis at Cape Air on Thursday in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

The airlines are Cape Air, Air Choice One, Boutique Air, Southern Airways Express and SkyWest Airlines.

“It is exciting,” Loy said of the flight choices being offered.

The current air service to St. Louis is a hard sell when the destination is two hours by car, Loy said.

“We have been competing with the interstate for the 20 years I have been here,” he added.

In an effort to aid the review process, the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce began an online survey of its members Wednesday to gather their opinions about air service. The five-question survey includes one asking chamber members to rate the most desirable destinations from among Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis.

People walk to their plane at Cape Air on Thursday in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

Chamber president John Mehner said about 200 people had responded to the survey by Thursday. Mehner said the chamber hopes to present the results to the airport board when it meets Tuesday.

Loy said the airport board will make a recommendation to the city council later this month.

The city council has to make its recommendation to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) by July 28.

Loy added the final decision rests with the DOT when it comes to inking a new two-year contract for air service.

Cape Air’s current two-year contract is set to expire in November, Loy said.

Cape Air has served Cape Girardeau since November 2009. The airline has operated under two-year and four-year contracts since that time, Loy said.

The proposals seek annual federal subsidies ranging from about $2 million to $3 million depending on the route, Loy said.

The annual subsidy is based on the cost of providing air service minus revenue and a 5 percent profit, he said.

Without such subsidies, cities such as Cape Girardeau would not secure air-passenger service, he said.

Three of the airlines’ proposals offer a variety of flight options.

• Cape Air proposed a single option: four daily round trips from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis.
• SkyWest Airlines, headquartered in St. George, Utah, presented a single option: two round trips daily from Cape Girardeau to Chicago O’Hare, with one of the daily flights making a stop in Quincy, Illinois.
• Boutique Air, headquartered in San Francisco, proposed 11 options to choose from, including round trips to St. Louis, Nashville, Atlanta and Chicago.
• Southern Airways Express, based in Memphis, has offered two options: one that would provide round trips to St. Louis, Nashville and Memphis and another that would provide four round trips daily to St. Louis.
• Air Choice One, based in St. Louis, has proposed four round trips daily to St. Louis or a second option that would provide two round trips daily to St. Louis and two round trips daily to Nashville.

SkyWest would use a 50-passenger, twin-engine jet aircraft. The others would use turboprop planes that seat eight to nine passengers, Loy said.

Cape Air has agreements for ticketing and connecting baggage with American, Delta, United , Alaska/Virgin America and JetBlue.

Cape Girardeau flights are operated with American Airlines flight numbers.

Southern Airways would offer connections to American Airlines flights, while SkyWest and Boutique would have connections to United Airlines. Air Choice One would not have any connections to other airlines.

SkyWest is the only airline that would have a flight attendant and a restroom on its aircraft.

The city of Cape Girardeau would receive a similar amount of revenue from such items as landing and fuel fees from each of the airlines, except for SkyWest. Its larger plane could generate some additional revenue, such as in fuel sales, Loy said.

Loy said the city would benefit from air service that would reach the 10,000-a-year boardings level. In that case, Cape Girardeau’s airport would qualify for $1 million in federal grant money instead of the automatic $150,000 for which it currently qualifies, he said.

But boardings have not come close to that threshold in recent years. There have been more than 6,000 boardings in three of the last four calendar years, according to city records.

For the first six months of this year, Cape Air boardings at the Cape Girardeau airport have totaled just over 3,000, according to city records.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

860 Limbaugh Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

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Cape Air boardings by year

Cape Air boardings at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport

2013: 6,429

2014: 6,511

2015: 6,186

2016: 5,532

2017 (first six months): 3,051

Source: Cape Girardeau Regional Airport