Council supports airport changes
Published April 17, 2007
The sky between Columbia and St. Louis might soon be empty, save for a few clouds, and Kansas City might soon be hogging all the air traffic.
The Columbia City Council voted unanimously Monday night to support the decision to change the Columbia Regional Airport's schedule to all Kansas City flights, a change suggested by Mesa Airlines. Mesa Airlines is the parent company of Air Midwest, the company that operates out of the airport.
Mesa Airlines officials believe this change will improve the service out of Columbia Regional.
"By switching to Kansas City-only, where we have our own station personnel in Kansas City, that allows us to schedule as we see fit, so we can connect to the major flights that this community needs to connect to," said Jeffrey Hartz, director of the Essential Air Service program for Mesa Airlines.
Hartz also said the reason there were problems with St. Louis connections related to dealing with partner airlines in St. Louis, which did not accommodate the needs of the airline to make connections.
The city of Columbia was asked to share an opinion on the topic because Mesa Airlines' contract is through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Essential Air Service program. As a participant in this program, Mesa is required to have proposed schedule changes approved by the communities served by the airport. But the input is not binding.
"I don't know, really, if we can have much of a say," Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser said. "As (Hartz) said, the federal government is going to decide it for us. (The current schedule) is obviously not working, so really, I think we're only left with moving forward to Kansas City."
The request to change the flight schedule follows the release of passenger numbers in February that showed the airport was servicing fewer passengers than in the past. According to the report, 654 passengers boarded planes at Columbia Regional in January, compared to 985 in October, when Air Midwest became the airline at the airport.
City Manager Bill Watkins said if the airline continued to have the same number of passengers, it would not have enough passengers to continue receiving the Essential Air Service program funding.
Although the decision was made unanimously, there were some concerns about how to hold the airline accountable for what they were promising and if the federal government would hold Mesa to any standards.
"I'm trying to see if we can get some kind of indication of support for this, and we ask that there be a certain level of performance, and that if that performance level is not met, that there be consequences," Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku said.
The council members also expressed concerns in relation to the proposed schedule and how it is spread out, but Hartz said the proposed schedule allows greater connections to and from Columbia. He said in the proposed schedule, the first flight into Columbia comes after many flights from other major cities have already landed in Kansas City, and the latest flight leaves Kansas City after many of the latest flights coming from major cities have landed.
This schedule will allow someone to go all the way to the East coast and back in one day if they want, Hartz said. Going east is a big consideration from the council.
"The city's consultants have looked at where most of the fliers who originate in mid-Missouri want to go, and a majority of them want to go east," Watkins said in a previous article.
Despite Mesa's plan, several citizens stood up to ask the city to reconsider its plans with the airport.
"It's psychological," said Herman Lueckenotte, a Jefferson City resident who has interest in operating an independent airline out of the airport. "In the path that people take, they don't like to go the opposite direction to go eastbound. Two-thirds of all the people traveling will be going east, and there's a psychological hold-back, so don't expect your loads to pick up going just to Kansas City."
Another concern was about the quality of service that has been received while Mesa has been operating out of Columbia Regional.
"(Mesa Airlines) said they could provide service to St. Louis and Kansas City, but they never really put the necessary resources and effort into making it work," said Columbia resident Mike Naughton, who is an employee of the airport and a member of the BIG Visioning citizen topic group on economic development, which includes discussion about the airport.
