MidAmerica Airport 1999 County Audit Findings
Collected $175K, Spent $2.4M
Mascoutah IL (November 3, 2000) - St. Clair County collected just $175,295 in landing fees, terminal charges, fuel sales and rent in 1999 at MidAmerica Airport, while spending $2.4 million, according to a county audit.
Officials in the county, which built the $313 million airport 25 miles east of St. Louis, are not concerned by the audit's findings. They expected MidAmerica Airport to lose money for at least five years before turning an operating profit.
"When we set up our financial plan, we were looking at the worst-case scenario," said Dan Maher, the county administrator. "It's not going to take a lot of activity for the airport to start paying for itself."
In 1999, the airport's overall deficit, including interest and equipment depreciation, was $10.8 million, compared to $7.3 million in 1998. Maher said St. Clair County has earmarked enough money to meet debt-service obligations on the airport for the next 15 to 20 years.
In August, Portsmouth, N.H.-based Pan American Airlines starting offering commercial service at MidAmerica Airport.
The county expects the airline will boost revenue at the airport. That's despite ticket sales and passenger counts that suggest about 90 percent of seats on the Pan Am flights to small airports near Chicago and Orlando, Florida were empty in September.
The losses at MidAmerica Airport could get worse. Both county and airport officials have refused to release copies of the agreement that brought the airline to MidAmerica Airport.
But County Board member Joseph R. Benkhen said discounts the county offered Pan Am as incentives, and the added costs of daily passenger service, could result in even larger deficits for the airport in the next few years.
Information provided by the Associated Press
Courtesy Belleville News-Democrat
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