MidAmerica Airport Starts To Weigh Other Options
Experts Differ On What Is Best Plan
MidAmerica Airport, Illinois (November 3, 2001) -- County officials officially started working Friday on "Plan B" -- one day after MidAmerica Airport's lone carrier said it was pulling out of the $313 million facility.
Analysts suggested the search should begin by pursuing alternatives to passenger service.
Julie Niemann, an analyst for R.T. Jones Capital Equities Inc. in St. Louis, said using MidAmerica for cargo flights should not be discounted.
"It's absolutely primo for cargo. Put up a few metal sheds and market the airport for cargo traffic," Niemann said.
The airport's rural location will eliminate the need for noise abatement, but its proximity to downtown St. Louis makes it ideal for cargo transportation for companies such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express.
Mike Boyd, the airline industry analyst who expressed concerns in 1995 about building MidAmerica before an airline committed to providing passenger service, promoted a different approach, indicating charter flights may be the answer.
Travel planners purchase seats on charter flights for inclusive vacation packages to destinations such as Orlando, Cancun or Las Vegas for leisure travelers. Those charter flights could sustain the fledgling airport, Boyd said, and many of the airport's amenities lend itself to that use, including a new terminal, free parking and limited traffic, meaning shorter waits.
"That's the way they should go with the airport now. Forget air freight and cargo. They don't have the facilities," Boyd said.
St. Clair County Board Chairman John Baricevic said he doesn't think Pan Am's decision makes the airport less attractive to other prospective tenants, including commercial airlines, charter companies or freight lines.
"There is no reason to close the doors and turn out the lights," Baricevic said, adding that the county has been prepared from the beginning to subsidize the airport for several years until business picked up. "Long term, I don't think anything has changed at all."
"We will continue to look (for tenants) in every aviation sector," Baricevic said. "But aviation is now in a depression, so none of us are expecting a quick answer."
Aside from an agreement with an Air National Guard unit at Scott Air Force Base, which allows the unit to use MidAmerica's runways for free, no other company now uses the facility.
Baricivic said the county will continue to pay the annual $3.5 million needed to keep the airport running -- with or without Pan Am. The loss of landing fees will be offset by a drop in expenses once the airline is gone, keeping its budget about the same, he said.
FunJet Vacations flies 12 charter flights a week out of Lambert during its peak season, FunJet spokesman Randi Becker said. Representatives from MidAmerica have contacted the company, but it has not yet committed any flights to the airport, Becker said.
Boyd said an airport that's done a good job attracting charter service is Bishop International Airport near Detroit.
Pat Corfmann, public relations and marketing director for Bishop, said attracting charter service is difficult. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, charter service is even more volatile because it is solely based on leisure travel.
"Business travelers have to go, but vacationers have much more control over when and how they get to a chosen destination," Corfmann said. "The one thing you can count on with charters is they are consistently inconsistent."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, charter flights have been canceled at Bishop until February because of the slowing economy and growing security concerns, Corfmann said.
The suggestion of transferring cargo business from Lambert to MidAmerica has met with opposition from St. Louis officials because it may jeopardize Lambert's planned expansion, Niemann said.
"Financial distress will force municipalities to change the way they think," Niemann said. "Officials need to start thinking regionally and not so provincially. That's the way they are going to survive and prosper."
Baricevic said he still thinks the airport was a good investment.
"I think the media has been too focused on whether the airport is making money or losing money," he said. "The sheriff's department loses money. The probation department loses money. But no one doubts those are important things we need to have in our budget."
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
Scott Wuerz and Beth Gansmann Article
© the Belleville News-Democrat
Associated Press contributed to this story.
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