Air Midweast Wants Drop St. Louis for KC-only Service

Apr. 1 -- Air Midwest, Columbia's only commercial airline service, is poised to ask federal officials to reconsider parts of its contract with the city after months of delayed flights and other problems.

Under a plan released last week, the airline would scrub its 12 weekly nonstop flights to St. Louis. Instead, the carrier would offer 24 weekly flights to Kansas City -- double the number it offers now.

The new schedule, which must be approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, was designed to provide better access to connecting flights and offer more flexibility in scheduling, said officials at Mesa Air Group, a Phoenix-based subsidiary of Air Midwest. The one-city option for flights from Columbia Regional Airport also would lead to more reliable air service, they said.

But some city officials say they are skeptical.

Since the company was awarded a federally subsidized "essential air service" contract in October to operate at the airport, many planes have flown empty and passengers have had flights delayed. Passenger data from February show that flights from Columbia averaged eight people -- or 42 percent of capacity on the 19-seat turboprop planes.

And that's not all.

"On numerous occasions, the flights are excessively delayed to the point that passengers are walking out of the terminal and driving or taking shuttle service to their connecting flights," City Manager Bill Watkins said in a memo to the Columbia City Council.

Jeff Hartz, a spokesman for Mesa, said in an e-mail to Airport Manager Kathy Frerking that "significantly more" connecting options would be available to passengers with a Kansas City-only flight schedule. He also said concentrating on flights to Kansas City would provide connecting flights to carriers with nonstop flights to about 30 U.S. cities.

Hartz, in a telephone interview, said costs to fly into Kansas City are cheaper than to St. Louis. Also, he said the airline operates its own facilities there, which would lead to more reliable flights.

"Something needed to be done," Hartz said. "We're obviously not satisfied. It may not fix every single problem, but it might make some things easier."

The city council will consider the option at its regular meeting tomorrow, but federal officials will determine whether the change is approved. Council members could refer the plan to the city's Airport Advisory Board, schedule a public hearing, ask federal officials to approve the plan with penalties if the carrier fails to increase passenger loads or ask staff to continue work to secure another air-service provider.

Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku, who expressed concern over whether passengers would be able to catch connecting flights under the original plan, said he would even consider asking another regional airline to bid on a contract with Columbia.

"We should explore the option ... of reopening the whole issue," Janku said. "The whole level of service that they've been providing has been a disappointment. Not just to me, but to a lot of people."

However, that option appears unlikely. The only other carrier to bid on service from Columbia last year -- Regions Air -- had its planes ordered grounded twice this month after it lost a code-sharing agreement with American Airlines.

Frerking described some flights since Mesa took over as "excessively late." Passengers "knew they could hop in the vans and be in St. Louis or Kansas City," Frerking said. "They'd take that opportunity rather than risk being late again."

Watkins said he will wait for the council to decide what steps to take next. "What we've got now isn't working," he said. "We may be marginally better off just going to Kansas City."

Hartz said he hopes the change can be made by July 8.

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