MidAmerica Airport Director: Traffic Soon May Be Picking Up
AVMATS To Be Up And Running By March
Construction Of A Cargo Terminal Should Start Next Fall
MidAmerica Airport, Illinois (November 17, 2002) -- Nearly a year has passed since Pan Am canceled passenger service at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, but the coming year should bring at least two new ventures.
Airport Director Tim Cantwell said he's trying to build piece by piece.
"We need to make it happen today, but you've got to start one flight at a time, one business at a time," he said.
In March, the airport should have a new air company operating. AVMATS, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based corporate aviation company, expects to be up and running then, said Butch Giessman, the company's president and chief executive officer.
AVMATS is building in phases at the airport, and Giessman said the company may start work on the second phase of its building as soon as the first one opens.
St. Clair County approved a lease with AVMATS a year ago, just before Pan American Airways pulled out.
Giessman said his company's presence may help bring more tenants to the airport, possibly even another airline. He said that is because AVMATS can do on-site maintenance work for aircraft.
"Once there is a company like ours to service them, I foresee a lot more activity over there at the airport from the corporate end, and actually, the fact that there will be a maintenance facility, it's an incentive for even the airlines," he said.
Cantwell said a main goal for next year is to have at least one chartered cargo flight operating at the airport every quarter.
"I think that one cargo charter a quarter is going to be attainable for next year," he said. "When you haven't proved the concept of cargo at MidAmerica, you need to start to put data points together, and once you prove the concept, you can show everyone else that it's not a risk."
Construction of a cargo terminal at the airport should start next fall, Cantwell said. St. Clair County will receive $6.3 million in federal money for construction of the terminal, county administrator Dan Maher has said.
Currently, Festus, Mo.-based charter company Multi-Aero is the airport's only tenant, and offers occasional charter flights to Chicago's Midway Airport.
Juli Niemann, an airline industry analyst with R.T. Jones Capital Equities in Clayton, Mo., praised Cantwell, calling him "proactive."
"He's going for something that is viable, has long-term potential and can grow," she said.
Cantwell said he also is talking with charter companies and passenger airlines about the airport.
"Barring any other catastrophic event, demand is not going to go down," Cantwell said about passenger airlines. "It's a great time to prove our viability."
Attracting low-cost airlines to MidAmerica could be difficult, Niemann said.
"What they need is good body count, they need a lot of people coming in," she said.
A passenger carrier cannot rely on customers from the metro-east alone.
"That's what Pan Am tried and it didn't work -- they did not attract enough traffic," she said.
Information provided by the Belleville News-Democrat
David Van Den Berg Article © the Belleville News-Democrat
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