MidAmerica Airport misses out on grant that would have added 7 new destinations
MidAmerica St. Louis Airport will not receive a federal grant that would have helped bring in seven new destinations through its only carrier.
In March 2021, the airport applied for The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development Program, a grant program that helps smaller market airports add destinations to its offerings.
In MidAmerica’s case, it would have added seven roundtrip destinations via Allegiant Air, the airport’s sole flight provider.
The new destinations would have include Denver, Newark, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and Orange County, California. The airport currently offers flights to 12 destinations through Allegiant Air.
The grant would have award $490,000 to the airport, with a matching $160,000 from the county toward the costs of accommodating new flights.
When the airport first applied, Director Bryan Johnson said more than 750 applications for the funds from 550 airports nationwide were being considered. He noted the last time the airport applied to be considered was in 2015.
Johnson could not immediately be reached for comment on the grant Friday.
Outside of the grant, MidAmerica recently got approved to start a new incentive program at MidAmerica Airport that will pay airlines $100,000 to connect the metro-east airport with new destinations.
The Air Service Incentive program will aim to add more non-stop flights from the airport to underserved markets while making the airport desirable for low- and ultra-low cost airlines.
The program would be open to all carriers, regardless of service type. On top of the $100,000 award, “landing fees” at the airport would also be waived for the first two years of service to any new destination.