Cape Council approves new airport lease

Cape Girardeau City Council members unanimously approved a lease with Corporate Flight Management (Contour Airlines) for Cape Girardeau Regional Airport at Monday's meeting.

The three-year nearly $578,000 lease is the final step to Contour beginning service at the airport Oct. 18, Katrina Amos, airport manager said Monday morning.

The lease is very similar to the one soon-to-be former carrier SkyWest has with the airport, Amos said. The city will be making a "little less" on fuel compared to its agreement with SkyWest, she said. Fuel costs account for the bulk of the fees, a little more than $150,000 annually.

"It's not a big difference, you know, we like to refer to it as it really is kind of revenue neutral," Amos said.

The council members' approval seemingly closes an arduous saga for city officials, Airport Advisory Board members and Amos.

The odyssey was started by SkyWest issuing a termination notice to service at the airport in March, citing pilot and crew shortages. Cape Girardeau was among 29 communities to receive such a notice.

The termination sent city officials back into another bid process with three air carriers submitting proposals. Southern Airways, Boutique Air and Contour.

Both Southern and Boutique offered single-engine air service out of Cape Girardeau to St. Louis and/or Nashville, Tennessee, with Southern possibly offering a connection to Chicago.

"For Cape Girardeau, our goal has always been to have regional jet service," Amos said.

Contour was the sole proposal offering jet service.

Not having jet service would've created multiple obstacles for the airport. Passengers out of Cape Girardeau have said they prefer larger aircraft, Amos said. The passenger limitations — around eight or nine per flight — for single-engine aircraft would all but eliminate the possibility of reaching 10,000 boardings in Cape Girardeau. The benchmark, if reached, makes the airport eligible for federal grant money.

Accepting a contract without jet service also would waive the airport's ability to demand jet service from carriers in the future, Amos said, taking away leverage for airport officials when seeking future proposals.

SkyWest did submit a proposal to continue service at the airport and rescind its termination prior to council members' approval of the switch to Contour in June. The rescinsion and proposal did not garner much support among city officials or advisory board members.

Numerous board members and city officials said SkyWest had not earned their trust following the termination notice. The official proposal presented to advisory board members in June was littered with mays and possibilities.

"My sense was that SkyWest wants Cape Girardeau to make a commitment to them but is still not providing a commitment to us," Mayor Stacy Kinder, said at a council meeting in June.