AIRPORT MARKETING

William H. Walker's resignation from the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Advisory Board -- because of what he called a lack of aggressive airport marketing -- points to a problem that some board members and others interested in the success of the airport have recognized in recent months. Those concerns are legitimate.

Those are harsh words from a man who has spent eight years on the airport board and holds an undergraduate degree in professional aviation with a minor in airport administration. They also are the words of an airport board member who has become frustrated over a lack of a marketing plan to get out the word that the airport is here to serve Southeast Missouri with both scheduled and charter flight services.

Walker and other advisory board members have repeatedly called for an aggressive marketing plan aimed at getting more people to use the airport. The city has put a great deal of money into the airport and its facilities, including a major renovation of the terminal building, and it is time that Cape Girardeau and its taxpayers start seeing a return on their investment. That can only be accomplished by promoting the airport throughout the region through a campaign that gets the most out of the limited number of dollars the airport has to spend on advertising.

The airport could start by making it easier for customers to find telephone numbers for the airport. A caller to Speak Out recently pointed out the difficulty in trying to reach the airport for information on Trans World Express flights. The caller raised a valid point. TWE's toll-free number is listed under TWA in the white pages. Under airlines in the yellow pages TWE isn't even listed.

Surveys have shown that about 75 percent of the people who fly TWE out of Cape Girardeau live south and west of here. It makes sense, then, to concentrate airport advertising on those areas of Southeast Missouri. TWE is the only scheduled service at the airport, offering flights to St. Louis. Until more people use TWE, the airline can't be expected to offer flights from Cape Girardeau to other destinations, and no other airline is likely to want to come into Cape Girardeau until TWE flights are full.

Changing the name of the airport to Cape Girardeau Regional Airport to better reflect its service area was a wise move. Now the airport must be sold as a regional one throughout the region.