CITY MARKETS AIRPORT RENOVATION TO SPUR BOARDINGS

City officials are hoping a $1.1 million renovated terminal building at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport will be a catalyst for increased boardings and, eventually, airline service to additional cities.

Representatives of Trans World Express, the airport's commercial airline, met Thursday with travel agents and city leaders to tour the new terminal facility and to discuss the future of the municipal airport.

Bill Mishk, marketing director for TWE, told travel agents that their support is imperative to reviving commercial boardings at the airport.

"This has been a long, hard road to travel to get here," Mishk said, referring to the near completion of the terminal building renovation. "But we're going to need your support."

Mishk said city leaders and citizens have identified airline reliability and fares as the top priorities for the airport.

"Our goal here in the city of Cape Girardeau is to keep fares for connections to St. Louis flights between $40 and $60 dollars," he said.

Mishk said TWE already has made significant strides to improve reliability for flights in and out of Cape Girardeau. He also said the airline soon will begin to promote air service here through television and billboard advertisements.

Bill Walker, chairman of the city's Airport Advisory Board, also said cooperation from travel agents is important.

"Perhaps, with your leadership in the community serving travelers, we can build this airport back to what it was even a couple years ago," Walker said. "Things have changed a lot in the last five years, and it's going to change a lot more in the next few years. We're looking for great things at the airport."

Airport board members have long contended the key to reviving airline boardings is additional destinations. TWE provides flights only between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.

But Mishk said if boardings between here and St. Louis increase, doors are more likely to open for service to other cities. "I'd really like to get some gangbuster loads on the flights we have," he said.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said boardings at the airport already have started to rebound after they "reached bottom" last year.

"I think you'll see carriers coming to Cape Girardeau interested in going to some of these other cities once we start filling these flights," he said.

The city administration also has embarked on a "Fly Cape" marketing campaign, hoping to capitalize on the new terminal building and encourage travelers to use the airport.

Fischer said it's important to promote the airport as a regional facility to attract flyers from throughout Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

"We look at this as a regional airport, even though Cape Girardeau is paying for all of it," he said. "Cape Girardeau is the regional hub, and our airport has to serve customers in the region."

Airport Manager Randy Holdman said the $1.1 million terminal building is only part of the improvements planned for the airport in the next year.

He said an additional $3.3 million in projects have been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, of which 90 percent will be funded by the federal government.

They include a new parking lot, a firefighting vehicle, an improved water system for fire protection, apron reconstruction and taxiway expansion, rewiring of the runways and development of a new airport layout plan.

But Holdman said promotion of the airport is as important to its success as is the quality of infrastructure.

"A lot of people don't know the airport is here," he said. "It took 1-2 years to build the terminal and it's time to break some habits that might have been developed during that time."