RegionsAir’s St. Louis bid gets nod from council over Mesa Air’s two-city plan.
City officials announced their support Friday for a proposal by national carrier RegionsAir to provide four weekday round-trip flights from Columbia to St. Louis. The proposal would require $728,438 in annual subsidies from the federal government.
By choosing the RegionsAir proposal, the city took the opposite view from the Columbia Airport Advisory Board, which voted Tuesday for a proposal from Mesa Air Group to provide two round-trip flights a day from Columbia Regional Airport to Kansas City and St. Louis. Mesa Air Group and RegionsAir were the two carriers that submitted proposals to a U.S. Department of Transportation call for bids to restore regional service to Columbia after Trans States Airlines announced in February it would discontinue service to Columbia Regional.
Mesa Air Group made two proposals: the first would provide two round-trip flights a day from Columbia Regional Airport to Kansas City and St. Louis and would require $598,751 per year in federal subsidies; the second proposed four daily round-trip flights to Kansas City and no flights to St. Louis with a $793,830 annual subsidy.
City Manager Bill Watkins sent a letter to City Council members listing various reasons for the city’s decision.
“I think our perspective was from that of the passenger,” Watkins said. “We were looking for the easiest and quickest way to get to an end point.”
Mead & Hunt, a consulting group hired by the city, found that 60 percent of passengers traveling out of Columbia Regional Airport’s service area in the year ending in February 2006 used Lambert Field in St. Louis, while 32 percent used Kansas City International Airport. Watkins’ letter to the council added that those statistics were based only on data collected by a distribution system used by travel agencies.
Trans States Airlines offers 20 round-trip flights per week to St. Louis. Watkins said there is an advantage in the similarities between that service and the proposal from RegionsAir.
“It is easier to build your ridership on a known variable,” Watkins said.
“What we’ve got to do is take our ridership and grow our base.” Watkins said.
Greg Cecil, a member of the Airport Advisory Board, said he’s confident the panel made the right decision by endorsing Mesa’s plan to provide two round-trip flights a day to both cities.
“I still think our choice is the better choice because I think Mesa offers more opportunities for the traveler,” Cecil said. “This could be a great opportunity for us to get a partner in the community and be able to go more places.”
Cecil said Mesa Air Group expressed interest in getting involved with the community by joining the Columbia Chamber of Commerce and offering promotions. “If we choose Mesa, we will have a representative from that carrier on the ground working with us.”
The city’s letter cited Mesa’s departure schedule as another factor in its decision to back the RegionsAir plan of four flights a day.
“Mesa’s departure schedule — consisting of one early morning and one early afternoon flight to Kansas City, along with one morning and one early evening flight to St. Louis — limits the number of connecting flights available to passengers at (both airports) without a long wait time,” the letter said.
“Mesa’s dual-hub proposal was the worst of both worlds rather than the best,” said Watkins. “If they would have offered three flights a day to St. Louis and three flights to Kansas City, or four each every day, that would have been extremely attractive. But two (flights) doesn’t give us the connectivity we’re looking for.”
But Cecil doesn’t think Mesa’s departure schedule is enough reason to decide against their offer.
“All those proposals are just proposals, and those (departure) times aren’t set in concrete,” said Cecil.
Jefferson City Mayor John Landwehr also weighed in on the proposals, sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation stating his support for the RegionsAir proposal. Steven Rasmussen, city manager for Jefferson City, likes the same plan.
“We think that you better serve the flying public if you can have a lot of flights the same day to the same place,” Rasmussen said, adding that he would like to see more cooperation with Columbia and “a more regional flavor” regarding the airport’s service.
“We think there is strength in numbers if we all sing the same song,” Rasmussen said.
Cecil said an airline that creates a partnership with the community has the potential to create a customer base significant enough for a larger carrier such as Mesa to begin offering service to other hubs, such as Chicago or Dallas.
“The bottom line is that we’ve got to support our local airline,” Cecil said. “There’s a lot of value to be had from flying out of the Kansas City market.”
“Things are changing in the airline industry. I think if we’re looking at opportunities, Mesa has the planes to do it.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation will make the final decision on which carrier provides essential air service at Columbia Regional, but it is bound by law to take all comment from area officials into consideration.
Cecil said members of the Airport Advisory Board will likely attend City Council’s public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m. Monday. The deadline for the city’s final recommendation to the transportation department is June 9.