Federal grant could bring seven new cross-country destinations to MidAmerica Airport
MidAmerica St. Louis Airport is competing for a federal grant that could bring in seven new destinations to the metro-east airport.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development Program helps smaller market airports add destinations to its offerings. In MidAmerica’s case, seven roundtrip destinations would be added via Allegiant Air, the airport’s sole flight provider.
The new destinations would include Denver, Newark, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and Orange County, California. The airport currently offers flights to 12 destinations through Allegiant Air.
Airport Director Bryan Johnson said there are more than 750 applications for the funds from 550 airports nationwide. He noted the last time the airport applied to be considered was in 2015.
“It’s a pretty competitive process,” he said, noting that the development grant is unlike the typical aid the airport applies for, which mostly focuses on improving the airport’s operations.
If approved, the grant would award $490,000 to the airport, with the airport itself providing $160,000 toward the costs of accommodating new flights. Johnson said the money helps supplement the costs of developing new flight paths.
Johnson said the recipients of the grants will be notified by late summer. It’s too early to estimate when the new destinations would be offered at the airport if the grant funds were awarded to MidAmerica, he said.
There’s no way to handicap MidAmerica’s chances of receiving the funds, Johnson said, but he believes the new flight destinations could help the airport improve the St. Louis region’s flight options.
He said offering flight options that St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport currently doesn’t provide or has stopped providing provide an opportunity for MidAmerica to expand and better serve the region.
“We’re working to augment the losses in St. Louis due to the downturn in air service because of the coronavirus,” he said. “The second part of that is exploring new opportunities, not to replace flights, but to add service that maybe Lambert isn’t offering at this time.”
COVID-19 made 2020 a difficult year for airports throughout the country. According to the Department of Transportation, U.S. airlines saw 60% fewer passengers in 2020 compared to 2019.
Johnson said some of the destinations the airport is offering are either underserved or don’t currently have direct flights from the St. Louis region. The more offerings, the better the public will be served, he added.
“We’ll just all be better off whether you’re on the Missouri or Illinois side,” he said.