Cape Girardeau Regional Airport in northern Scott County continues its rebound in passenger traffic from the depths of the COVID pandemic in 2020, according to the latest usage report issued by the office of airport manager Katrina Amos.

Enplanements, the industry term to designate passenger boardings, stands at 5,121 year-to-date for the first eight months of 2021, with 806 boardings recorded last month.

"Passenger traffic for August was 123% higher than in 2020 but down 28% when compared to (pre-pandemic) 2019," Amos told the Southeast Missourian on Friday.

Airport officials had projected 7,400 enplanements for 2021 but Amos said if the current trend continues, the final number might exceed the 8,000 threshold.

"If monthly enplanements continue at the level of 800 per month, we'll exceed 8.000 for the year and be eligible to receive $600,000 via a federal grant," said Amos, who succeeded longtime manager Bruce Loy in January 2020.

Status

Amos explains if a facility is classified as a "primary" airport, it is eligible to receive funding from the Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program.

In the pre-COVID era, an airport had to reach at least 10,000 annual enplanements to receive $1 million in an FAA AIP grant.

"Due to the 2020 pandemic, our airport — along with a host of others — didn't reach (the minimum), so the FAA utilized 2019 numbers to determine 2020 status. Since we were a primary airport two years ago, we were granted a "virtual primary" status last year (and) were eligible for the $1 million," Amos explained.

The FAA, Amos said, works with a tiered funding structure after passage of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act.

For airports such as Cape Girardeau Regional, known by the code CGI, reaching a passenger volume between 8,000 and 9,999 this year will make the city-owned airport eligible for $600,000 in new federal funding.

"I am still encouraged by the (passenger) numbers I'm seeing," Amos told the regular monthly meeting of the Airport Advisory Board on Tuesday.

SEMO program

The addition of Southeast Missouri State University's new professional pilot degree program has had an immediate impact on airport operations, Amos said.

The program, which formally launched with the start of SEMO's fall semester Aug. 23, "is off to a great start. Students are now flying with their instructors and airport operations have increased by 49% since the program's inception," she said.

An airport operation is defined as a landing or a takeoff.

"Over the last four years, we have averaged over 70 daily operations. Over the last three weeks, we have increased to an average of 140 operations per day," Amos said.