Eat here and get gas, too

Recently overheard in the cornfields of Mascoutah: “Ding-ding.” “Fill ‘er up with Jet A, sir?” “It’s another great day for MidAmerica Airport.”

St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern effused that $77,000 in annual revenue from Allegiant Airlines’ new flights to Las Vegas was a great day. Seriously, folks, we’ll need a bunch more flights and destinations to fill the $13 million hole MidAmerica Airport puts in the county budget each year.

So they get a penny from the new food vendor. They get a nickel from new flights added by Allegiant. They make a dime selling aviation fuel. They make a quarter renting land to farmers. Still leaves us $13 million in the red.

That said, cheap flights to Vegas at an airport that doesn’t require an expedition in from the parking lot followed by a strip search in the terminal sounds like a good thing to us. Allegiant’s pulled the plug before when the economics weren’t right, so get your tickets to Vegas or Florida while you can.

After all, “You Paid For It.”

This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Eat here and get gas, too."