AIRPORT PUSH IS COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY

An article in the Sunday newspaper noted that fewer people are flying out of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport on Trans World Express. Reasons given for the downturn in boardings were a reduced marketing effort locally by TWE and the public's fear of flying on turbo-prop planes. Also noted was a brief reference to the fact that last year's total was up nearly 29 percent from 1993. While the two reasons given in the article may be contributory, a comparison of current marketing efforts with those in 1994 may help explain why they do not account for the 14 percent decrease in boardings experienced in the last six months.

The marketing of the airport should not hinge on the efforts of any one individual or any outside group such as TWE. The basic difference between results in 1994 and current boardings is a fundamental philosophical belief that the marketing of the regional airport should be a community responsibility. When the name of the airport was finally changed to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, the true nature of what our airport really means to the area as a whole was legitimized.

Four passenger surveys were conducted between August 1993 and August 1994. All four surveys confirmed that only 25 percent of the travelers were from Cape Girardeau. The other 75 percent were from the 80-mile surrounding region, particularly to the south and west of the airport. Bill Mishk, marketing director for TWE, acknowledged that many close-in cities to St. Louis that TWE services have had a 5 to 10 percent drop-off in bookings. But 75 percent of Cape's market depended on communities that were not close-in to St. Louis such as Kennett, Dexter, Sikeston and Poplar bluff. Not actively marketing these outlying cities from Cape Girardeau may explain why we have had a 14 percent decrease while Marion, Ill., which should be identical to Cape with reference to the news article's two reasons, has had only a 5 percent decrease in boardings.

Finally, TWE never had a local market representative in Cape Girardeau. During the best of times, TWE only had two marketing representatives for the entire four-state region serviced by TWE. When the marketing representative for this area resigned in March, she was responsible for 16 other cities in addition to Cape Girardeau. At best she was only able to cover the airports themselves and the larger corporate accounts. Local marketing was always the responsibility of the community and TWE was able to provide increased marketing support when a community first showed an interest in being proactive in the marketing of first showed an interest in being proactive in the marketing of their airport. This was the approach taken in 1994.

It is a truism that one person "can't do it all by himself". The active pursuit of involvement by all community organizations, with an interest in the economic well being of our airport, is crucial. This must be done in conjunction with out reach to all the travel agencies within the 80-mile radius of our regional airport's market area. Resources of both local government and volunteer activities within the 80-mile radius of our regional airport's market area. Resources of both local government and volunteer activities should be coordinated to pursue this goal. As an example, involvement by the Southeast Missouri Economic Development/Transportation Advisory Committee to help promote this regional airport might be an option.

The article in Tuesday's paper that a Federal Aviation Administration official had concluded that the control tower at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is "mission essential" validates the concept of our regional asset. Responsibility to support and market our airport should be a community effort for the benefit of all.

Randy Holdman of Cape Girardeau is executive manager for real estate and construction development at DSW Development Corp. He also is a former manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.