Airport interests voice concerns over carriers

Just eight days after Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Advisory Board members unanimously approved a recommendation to the Cape Girardeau City Council for switching carrier service to Contour Aviation, the board gathered once again to discuss the possible service change.

Board members heard from numerous members of the Cape Girardeau Pilots' Club to get their input on the upcoming decision between Contour and existing service partner SkyWest and discuss possible moves it could make.

SkyWest, which had recently announced it could rescind its initial termination of service for the airport -- set to take place June 24 -- has until noon Friday to submit to the board a formal proposal for consideration.

The board decided to hold a special meeting at 3 p.m. Friday to go over the possible SkyWest proposal and make an updated recommendation to the council before it is set to vote on the issue June 20.

The majority of club members at the meeting voiced support for a possible switch to Contour and concern for what they said was a pattern of unreliability from SkyWest.

Christina Ragain, treasurer for the club, said she had numerous positive experiences with Cape Air -- the service provider prior to SkyWest -- but had two separate trips with SkyWest that were "rough." One time she never took off from Cape Girardeau, another she was unable to get back. She decided to not use the service again, she said.

"I don't necessarily have a lot of support for SkyWest, and I stopped using the airport at that point," Ragain said.

Katrina Amos, airport manager, presented proposals to the club shortly after the June 6 meeting. Steve Nesler, treasurer for the club, reported unanimous support at that meeting for Contour.

Nesler said the club supported Contour because of SkyWest's reliability issues and Contour's private ownership as opposed to SkyWest being a publicly traded company.

"They can make their decisions, if they need to, without a board of directors telling them what to do, which may be right or wrong," Nesler said.

Many speakers said they appreciated what SkyWest had done for the airport, but the lack of faith in the service among board and club members was littered in statements. While some acknowledged the issues were because of a pilot shortage plaguing airlines across the country, the common sentiment among speakers was SkyWest was becoming difficult to trust.

"How do we know that SkyWest is not going to change their mind again?" Parker Ragain, a club member said of the possible new proposal from the carrier.

Amos said she had received numerous responses from area business leaders excited about a possible change to Contour because of the service to Nashville, Tennessee rather than flights to Chicago under current operations.

"There's a lot of people with business interests in the Nashville area alone that will drive a lot of business," Amos said.

Amos added there had been "surface level" conversations with Contour about adding Charlotte, North Carolina, to the airport's service if the council goes in that direction. Contour has an established hub in the city.

Amos, who represents the airport staff, said the staff was in support of sticking with SkyWest but decided to support the possible move to Contour because it looked like SkyWest would be pulling its service.

"If SkyWest can present an offer that they can maintain their contract, I think it's in everybody's best interest to move forward," Amos said. "If we can trust the proposal that's being presented."

Amos said while the carrier switch is possible, it would require a lot of extra work and rebranding for the airport.

At the end of the meeting, Amos addressed community concerns at the possible carrier change. Nashville being a less popular destination than Chicago for connecting flights has been chief among them, she said.

The airport manager said while some may view Contour as a step back, many viewed the switch from Cape Air to SkyWest as the same thing.

Cape Air was preventing the airport from reaching its important goal of 10,000 annual boardings, Amos said. The airport was in a "plateau" and needed to move on, she added.

"People complained so bad about going to Chicago. It was unbelievable," board member Jeff Brune said.

"I think anything with time and if you try the service, you try it out, and you get used to it, you learn. And you adapt to what you have to do, you adapt to the process," Amos said.

In other business, Amos announced five construction companies had attended a mandatory pre-qualification last week for the airport's new terminal project. Proposals for the terminal are due June 30.