CITY MAY OPERATE AIRPORT RESTAURANT

The city might consider operating the restaurant at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport if efforts to attract a private operator are unsuccessful.

Getting a new restaurant in the airport is one of the Airport Advisory Board's top priorities for the 1998-99 fiscal year, board members said, and adding a restaurant would help increase traffic at the airport.

Mayor Al Spradling III and airport manager Bruce Loy agreed that the restaurant is important enough for continued growth at the airport that the city should manage it until an outside firm can be found.

"This is something we have to promote," Spradling said. "The airport is a huge asset to the community."

If the city starts up a restaurant operation, "a private business might say this is a good deal" and step up to take it over, he said.

The Cape Girardeau City Council and Airport Advisory Board met in a joint study session Monday at the airport to outline goals and priorities for airport operations.

In addition to getting a new restaurant established, completion of a master plan for the airport and securing state funding for the control tower are the top priorities for the 1998-99 fiscal year, Loy said.

The airport restaurant has been vacant for several months, Loy said. The city originally managed the restaurant until private interests took it over. In the last several months, several interested operators have contacted airport officials, and two serious inquiries were made, said Loy. But no agreement has been reached.

"I guess cold feet would be the best way to put it," he said, adding a restaurant is "very, very important" to increasing traffic at the airport.

Loy said pilots frequently call to find out if Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has a restaurant, and when they learn it doesn't "they fly right on.

"We're missing fuel, we're missing funds, we're missing operations," Loy said.

J. Fred Waltz, who chairs the advisory board, said board members are looking at what types of incentives might be available to attract a restaurant.

"I think it's something that the advisory board and the City Council are going to have to work on jointly to come up with a solution," Waltz said.

Adding a restaurant would have "an immediate impact" on traffic at the airport, he said.

Loy also pointed out that a restaurant would attract customers from the surrounding area, including workers at the industries along Nash Road.

City manager Mike Miller said the city should "look at the restaurant as a draw" to pull people into the airport.

There is the potential that the restaurant could lose money, Miller said, "but if the thing is operated right, it can prove to be a very good draw into the airport."

And Loy said he felt it is important to make sure the operation is "treated as a restaurant that happens to be at the airport, not an airport restaurant, and it needs to be marketed that way."

Loy is awaiting word from the state on grant funds that would pay for most of a master plan to outline needed development of airport facilities and services.

The city has contracted with Crawford, Murphy and Tilley to complete the master plan. Estimated cost for the plan is $70,000.

Loy said he expects to hear from the state within the next several weeks on whether funding to pay for 90 percent of the cost of the plan will be granted.

If the funding is awarded, he said, work on the plan could start as early as this summer and should be completed in 12 months.

City and airport officials are also awaiting word on whether pending legislation that would provide state funding for operation of the airport control tower will be approved.

The Missouri Senate has already approved a measure that would allocate up to $125,000 a year to the local airport for operating the control tower.

Loy said he hopes the Missouri House will act on the legislation this week. Friday is the final day of the legislative session.

Several strides have been made in addressing concerns identified at last year's joint meeting, Loy said.

Decreasing activity was identified as a concern in 1997, but since numerous activities have been planned for 1998. The include the Cape Girardeau "Sky"-tober Fest, a skydiving meet scheduled for October; fly-ins and a monthly pilots breakfast on the fourth Saturday of every month; the air show in July; and the designation of Cape Girardeau as a stopover for the 99's international women's pilot club 1998 Annual Race in June.

Increasing local operations has been "a struggle," Loy said, and it is the only area in which activity is not increasing.

Local flying declined 9 percent in the first four months of 1998, but activity in April 1998 was 16 percent higher than activity in April 1997.

General aviation and itinerant operations continue to increase, and the number of passengers at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport is projected to hit 11,500 this year, Loy said.

Commercial passenger service has increased, and in 1997, 8,841 passengers boarded planes in Cape Girardeau, the highest number since 1991, when more than 8,600 boardings were recorded.