FBO COMPETITION AT CAPE AIRPORT SHOULD BE A PLUS

For the past couple of years, one of the most consistent complaints directed at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has been poor service by the airport's fixed base operator.

An airport's FBO is to general aviation what the convenience store and automobile repair shop is to interstate automobile traffic. The FBO supplies fuel, airplane maintenance and other services for pilots who land in Cape Girardeau.

In the past, that service has been lacking. That is why the Cape Girardeau City Council last year evicted Cape Central Airways, then the airport's FBO. Air Evac, which provides air ambulance service for St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, quickly moved to fill the vacancy at the airport.

This month the city council approved a 15-year lease with a second FBO, Prestige Air Services. Like Air Evac, Prestige Air will sell fuel and offer charter service, aircraft maintenance and flight training. Having two FBOs at a relatively small airport like Cape Girardeau's is unusual. But is it good for the airport, the city and general aviation? We will see.

Prestige Air plans to build a 22,000- to 25,000-square-foot building at the airport and be in full operation by summer. Any development at the airport is welcome. And economics theory says consumers benefit from better prices and service that competition generates.

Whether both businesses will flourish at the airport remains to be seen. But it is clear that two FBOs competing for customers at the Regional Airport is preferable to the situation that led to the previous FBO's eviction.