The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport celebrated opening its new terminal and transition to Chicago flights on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

At a news conference at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, some city officials termed the building of the new terminal as a "dream come true". Former airport manager Katrina Amos said she was glad to be able to come back to Cape Girardeau for the "momentous occasion".

"It's a milestone project, facility that we've been working on for a long time," Amos said. "Construction began April 11, 2023, and the rest is history. When you look at this facility, it really does accomplish everything that we wanted for our community."

Amos described the facility as being able to grow and planned for future expansion.

She said the "modern" terminal has all the "bells and whistles" including family rooms with a child nursing area, a service animal relief area, a sensory room and concessions. Amos spoke about how the funding for the improvements wouldn't have happened without the airport's milestones, including the 10,000 enplanements achieved in 2019, which made them eligible for funding sources.

"The city helped us with the capital improvement sales tax initiative that they included us in. That was huge, but that wasn't all. $4.25 million was a lot of money, but it wasn't enough to accomplish all the goals that we hope to accomplish. Fortunately, we were able to secure $17.5 million in Cares Act funding. After we were able to really figure out how we utilize that money, we went to work right away, and we understood that we had to be very aggressive with our plan in order to make this happen," Amos said.

Airport advisory board chairman Richard Knote described the new terminal as "unbelievable", "beautiful" and "breathtaking".

He said people who enter the airport can walk down a hall and discover the history behind the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and view art.

"We can relax before and after security, and big one is you can use the restroom after you (walk through security)," Knote said.

The new gates for the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport give a view of the runways with large windows allowing the room to fill with natural light on Wednesday, Aug. 14 in the new terminal. Airport manager Katrina Amos designed the CGI design above the seats.Nathan Gladden ~ ngladden@semissourian.com

Contour Airlines CEO Matt Chaifetz spoke about new developments coming to the airport at the news conference. He said United Airlines will be partnering with Contour and they can build connections to the "entire United Network via every major booking channel".

Chaifetz also said they haven't canceled a single flight in the last 90 days as their on-time performance for flights is at 92.1%

"It's pretty much an unheard-of number by airline operational metrics," he said.

Chaifetz also said the transition to offering Chicago flights has been a big step for the airport, stating it's a major hub for "two out of the three largest airlines in the country". The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport celebrated its first departing flight to Chicago earlier the same day with a ceremonial water cannon salute.