MidAmerica 'flower flights' to resume this month

E-Mail

Print Reprint or license

Text Size:

tool goes here

MASCOUTAH -- After a month-long hiatus, the weekly flights of flowers flown straight in from South America to MidAmerica St. Louis Airport are set to resume by the end of November.

What's more, by the end of next month, a second weekly flight of flowers from Colombia and Peru will be touching down at the airport to meet growing demand, according to Mark Kern, the St. Clair County Board chairman.

"It appears that the recession is coming to a close and we hope to see an uptick in all sectors of cargo," Kern said Friday.

Flower sales will "pick up again and then stay fine at least through Mother's Day," he said.

The weekly flights of South American flowers -- which the county has marketed with the tag line "MidAmerica Fresh" -- were suspended in late September because of a cyclical downturn in the floral business, Kern said.

"It's a seasonal issue with the quantity of flowers," he said. "From what I understand flower sales are down this time of year."

Tim Cantwell, the airport director, said the suspension of weekly flights made sense.

"Can you name a flower holiday in September?" Cantwell said.

Cantwell struck an optimistic note for the airport's air cargo future, noting that the flights from South America to MidAmerica and back "are full both ways."

Comments

Commenting allows our readers to share information, insights and observations about the news stories on our site. We encourage lively, thoughtful discussion, but ask you to refrain from abusive, racist or profane comments. Do not attack other posters for their viewpoints, race, gender or sexual orientation. We do not monitor each and every posting, but reserve the right to delete comments that violate these rules. Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" button. Repeat or flagrant offenders will lose their commenting privileges, at our discretion.