TWE GETS OK TO ADD FLIGHTS

It's now a done deal. Trans World Express and the U.S. Department of Transportation have signed an agreement that will add one flight a day Sunday through Friday and initiate Saturday air service at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport starting Oct. 1.

All flights would go to St. Louis and connect with TWA flights for about $40. Connections to other airlines will be more costly. The total number of weekly flights will increase from 11 round trips to 19.

Airport Director Bruce Loy said the U.S. Department of Transportation sent word of the deal by fax Wednesday.

"This is everything I had hoped for," Loy said.

Under the Essential Air Service program, the Department of Transportation will only subsidize flights to one hub from an airport like Cape Girardeau Regional, Loy said. If the local airport were to land any flights at an additional airport, the airline would be making those flights at its own financial risk.

Federal policy calls for every rural airport covered under its Essential Air Service program to have at least three arrivals and departures, said Luther Dietrich, a transportation industry analyst with the transportation department in Washington, D.C.

Airlines' applications for subsidies must include detailed reports of their expenses, anticipated revenues and the projected loss. The federal subsidies are designed to guarantee the airlines a 5 percent profit margin on each flight. Loy said TWE's projected expenses included money for promotion and advertising.

Loy attributed the increased subsidies to a new federal law that mandated that foreign airlines pay a fee for flying over U.S. soil. The law earmarks $50 million annually for the Essential Airline program, which subsidizes the flights in and out of Cape Girardeau.

"Senator (Christopher) Bond was instrumental in his support of this funding mechanism, and we are very thankful for his efforts," Loy said.

The way the new schedule looks is:

-- Weekday departures at 6:37 a.m., 12:05 p.m. and 7:55 p.m.

-- Weekday arrivals at 11:45 a.m., 7 p.m. and 9:05 p.m.

-- Saturday departures at 7:20 a.m. and 12:48 p.m.

-- Saturday arrival at 11:45 a.m.

-- Sunday departures at 12:48 p.m. and 8:34 p.m.

-- Sunday arrivals at 11:45 a.m., 7 p.m. and 9:05 p.m.

Loy said the schedule could change.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the additional flights mean he will start to use the airport himself. He said that when he travels by air, he usually comes home Sunday evenings. The addition of the Sunday evening flight means that he will be able to fly from Cape Girardeau rather than driving to St. Louis.

He said that with construction on all the highways between Lambert International Airport and Cape Girardeau and the additional flights, he expects the use of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport to increase.

"It's about time," he said. "We've been working on this for quite some time."