MultiAero Charter Airline To Use MidAmerica Airport
Company Vows Efficient Chicago Service
Flights Via ShareAFlight Program
MidAmerica Airport, Illinois (March 5, 2002) -- Promising to save business travelers time, MultiAero, Inc., through its new ShareAFlight program, will start offering flights from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport to Chicago Midway Airport on Monday.
Depending on the type of plane used, fares for the flights will be either $420 or $600. The company will offer the flights on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and it plans to use planes seating between four and nine passengers for the flights.
The flight will depart MidAmerica at 7:30 a.m., arriving in Chicago before 9 a.m. The return flight to MidAmerica will depart Chicago at 5:30 p.m., arriving before 7 p.m.
Passengers will only be asked to arrive 15 minutes before their flight departs, and if they know they will be arriving late, can call ahead and have the flight's departure held until they arrive.
"You won't have two hours standing in security lines or waiting for another 100 people to board your flight," said Greg Golden, vice president of sales and marketing for ShareAFlight.
Golden, who spoke at a news conference Monday, also said service could be expanded at MidAmerica if demand warrants.
At Midway, flights will not land at and depart from the passenger terminal there, and will instead use a smaller, separate building. While there, passengers will be able to arrange for ground transportation and can wait in a terminal Golden said will be appointed like a living room.
The flights will be the first to leave and arrive at MidAmerica since Pan American Airways operated at the airport. That airline, which offered flights to airports near Orlando and Chicago, did business from August 2000 to December 2001.
St. Clair County Board Chairman John Baricevic said he is glad to have the company operating at the airport.
"We are happy to be the host, the landlord, for a new business," he said. "This is kind of an interesting, and exciting aviation opportunity."
Because MultiAero is a charter operator, and not a commercial airline, the National Guard will not be asked to return to MidAmerica for security purposes, said airport director Rick Hargrove.
MultiAero, based in Festus, Mo., already offers charter flights from the St. Louis area, which Golden said will be offered at MidAmerica if customers want. The charter flights can either be booked and used exclusively by an individual or an organization, or travelers can book a seat on a charter flight with a passenger-requested flight. Golden did not give the costs of those flights.
MultiAero and the county have signed a five-year contract for the company to operate at the airport, Hargrove said, adding the company is receiving incentives. For the first six months the company operates at the airport, landing fees and fees for leasing space in the terminal will be waived.
St. Clair County Administrator Dan Maher said the company is leasing 325 square feet of office space at $19 a square foot each year and 179 feet of counter space at $23 a foot each year.
The fee waiver for the terminal space lease will amount to about $5,146.
Ron O'Connor, a spokesman for the airport, said landing fees at the airport are 90 cents for each 1,000 pounds of the aircraft's weight, and that fee waiver amounts to about $1,560.
Hargrove said that Pan Am had the fees waived for its first year of operations at the airport, compared with the six-month waiver for MultiAero.
At a glance
MultiAero, Inc. will begin offering scheduled flights Monday from MidAmerica St. Louis Airport to Chicago Midway Airport on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The flight will depart MidAmerica at 7:30 a.m. arriving in Chicago before 9 a.m.
The return flight will depart Chicago at 5:30 p.m. arriving at MidAmerica before 7 p.m.
The roundtrip fare for the flights will be either $420 or $600 plus taxes, depending on the type of plane used.
Reservations can be made by phone at (800) 795-7192, with a travel agent or on the Web at http://www.shareaflight.net.
MultiAero has signed a five-year contract to operate at the airport, and is receiving incentives from St. Clair County.
For the first six months it operates at the airport, the company will not have to pay landing fees or fees for leasing counter and office space in the terminal.
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
DAVID VAN DEN BERG Article © the Belleville News-Democrat
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