TWE HOPING FOR REVITALIZED FLIGHT INTEREST

Trans World Express Airlines is hoping a revived community interest in air service at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport will lead to increased boardings.

Although the airline had hoped to get a federal Department of Transportation subsidy for its operations here, Marketing Director Bill Mishk said Tuesday he's hopeful service can be maintained without it.

"I honestly can tell you our load factor on the flights has roughly doubled," Mishk said. "I remember at least three or four months ago, the load factor was the lowest we'd had in a long, long time."

Mishk said the nation's apparent economic recovery and recent bargain fares offered by the airlines have helped increase boardings in Cape Girardeau.

"Also, a renewed interest on the part of Cape citizens to fly has helped," he said. "That was a key part in our decision to stay."

Mishk said that when TWE applied for the DOT subsidy, several local travel agencies contacted him and asked that TWE continue to operate in Cape Girardeau.

"That also played a major role in our decision to stay," he said. "That and renewed interest by the community in service to St. Louis."

TWE last month withdrew its application for the subsidy after city officials recommended the subsidy instead go to Lone Star Airlines of Texas.

TWE currently provides air service between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis. Last September, the airline notified the DOT that unless its operations were subsidized, it would pull out of the Cape Girardeau airport.

By filing notification that it was seeking the subsidy, the DOT opened the door for the city to seek other airlines that might be interested in serving the market.

Lone Star proposed to provide air service between Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn.

But now that TWE has said it doesn't need the subsidy, Lone Star's proposal is moot.

Mishk had urged the city to recommend TWE for the subsidy, claiming the airline was more financially stable than Lone Star and able to offer the fare and service benefits of a marketing agreement with the Trans World Airlines.

City officials have complained that TWE hasn't adequately marketed the Cape Girardeau airport something Mishk said he hopes will change in the coming months.

"What I'd like to do is see how we can kind of build upon this and speak with the Airport Advisory Board maybe sit down and plan some strategy for the airport," he said.

"But our load factor's been increasing from Cape. It's really come back from the dead point that it was a few months ago when we filed our subsidy application."

Mishk said that even without the subsidy, the airline will continue to offer adequate service in Cape Girardeau, although Airport Manager Mark Seesing said Tuesday that TWE apparently has canceled one weekend flight.

"The 10:10 flight was cut Sunday morning," Seesing said. "We now have three flights a day during the week and three on weekends two on Saturday and one on Sunday."

Seesing said the number of flights meet the minimum DOT requirements for its Essential Air Service program. "TWE was providing an additional Sunday flight that they've just cut, so now they're at the EAS minimum requirement," he added.

TWE could resubmit its application for EAS subsidy, but Mishk said the airline has no immediate plans to do so.

"That's not our plan right now," he said. "Of course you can't predict what the future holds, but right now I can't say that we are going to reapply."

City officials have said for years that the key to increased boardings at the airport is additional destinations other than St. Louis, which is only a two-hour automobile drive from Cape Girardeau. Lone Star's proposal to link Cape Girardeau with Memphis and St. Louis was seen as an opportunity to expand the city's air destinations.

Although Mishk urged city officials and members of the Airport Advisory Board to reject Lone Star's proposal, he said he's not opposed to a competing airline operating in Cape Girardeau.

"I've said it before and TWE's said it all along: We have no problem with somebody providing competition to a market like Memphis," he said.

"For our system, it just did not make sense, but we're certainly not opposed to someone else providing that service."