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PrintWhat if you could fly straight to St. Louis or Kansas City, then continue your journey on any airline you wanted? How about paying one price for tickets, no matter when you buy or which connecting airline you use?
Herman Lueckenotte thinks he can give you all that — and then some. He just needs $5 million to make it happen.
“What we need is an airline operating out of Jefferson City and Columbia,” Lueckenotte said. “It’s a plan that will work.”
Lueckenotte, a pilot with years of commercial airline experience, met Wednesday with members of Regional Economic Development Inc. to outline his proposal for an independent airline based in mid-Missouri. Next week, he will make his pitch to the Airport Advisory Board.
The Jefferson City resident and city of Columbia bus driver has worked out a prospectus and five-year business plan for his proposed company, Missouri Sky Airlines. He has tested the routes on a flight simulator. He even has glossy photo illustrations and a scale model of the planes he plans to use.
What he doesn’t have is the millions of dollars in private investments it will take to get his plan off the ground.
“We need local funding for a plan that’s going to benefit the community,” he said.
In early February, AmericanConnection operator Trans States Airlines announced it would discontinue service to Columbia, although federal law would guarantee at least minimal service to the airport. That announcement came two days after Pete Rahn, Missouri Department of Transportation director, gave a bleak prognosis on the future viability of Interstate 70. Both developments, Lueckenotte figures, could translate into increased support for his dream.
Missouri Sky would be based in Jefferson City using pressurized Beechcraft 1900D turboprop planes, which have room for 19 passengers. Round-trip flights to St. Louis would depart from either Columbia or Jefferson City at regular intervals - about every hour to hour-and-a-half. A smaller number of flights to Kansas City would originate in Jefferson City with a brief stopover in Columbia.
Lueckenotte estimates flights to either destination would cost about $80 one-way. Flights from Jefferson City would also connect with Lake of the Ozarks.
Regularly scheduled air service to mid-Missouri is currently limited to three daily round-trip AmericanConnection flights most days between Columbia and St. Louis. For passengers connecting to American Airlines flights, flying from Columbia can add as little as $65 to the round-trip ticket price. But passengers who want to fly just to St. Louis, often to switch to a lower-cost or alternative carrier, generally have to pay several hundred dollars. That’s where Lueckenotte’s plan could prove attractive.
“If you’re just flying to St. Louis and back on AmericanConnection, the price is exorbitant,” said B.J. Hunter, Airport Advisory Board chairman. “If he can make the prices reasonable and make the ticketing easy, I wish him the best.”
Lueckenotte estimates he would need $1.3 million in start-up money to cover leases on the aircrafts and other costs, plus an additional $2.1 million on reserve to satisfy Department of Transportation requirements. The airline, he estimates, could rack up as much as $5.2 million in debt before becoming profitable.
Even if he can line up enough seed money, Lueckenotte still faces some hurdles. For example, Jefferson City Memorial Airport, a key component in the plan, is not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial flights.
Then there is the question of prospective passengers. Part of the attraction of flying from Columbia, acting Airport Manager Ken Koopmans said, is that bags are checked through to the final destination. That option would be impossible with Missouri Sky.
Still, Koopmans, who as the city’s transportation manager is also Lueckenotte’s boss, wishes Lueckenotte the best.
“If he can find an investor, all the more power to him,” Koopmans said.
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