Quincy Regional Airport passenger numbers continue to rise

Quincy Regional Airport passenger numbers continue to rise

3 months, 1 week ago by Bob Gough, QuincyJournal

Enplanements up 100 from last January

The City of Quincy is hoping 2012 will be the year Quincy Regional Airport gets 10,000 passengers to fly to St. Louis.

And January’s numbers show things are heading in that direction.

The airport had 736 enplanements in January, which is an increase of about 100 from January 2011.

But Cape Air, the airport’s Essential Air Service provider, is still going to have to pick up the pace a bit over the next 11 months to get to 10,000 passengers and activating a $1 million federal subsidy.

QRA finished with 9,248 passengers flying out last year.

February could see a larger increase than January did because last year the airport lost several flights with the early February blizzard. QRA had 557 enplanements last February, which was still an increase of 102 from February 2010.

Cape Air is in the early stages of its four-year contract to serve as the EAS provider. The airline receives $1.9 million annually from the federal government to serve in that role.

At tonight’s Quincy City Council meeting, aldermen will consider a resolution requesting the City to enter into a new airport facility lease with Cape Air for $10,188 a year with an automatic increase of 3 percent a year.

That lease is for the airline’s office space in the airport terminal. The airline has another lease with the City for $35,000 annually for the new maintenance hub Cape Air is preparing to open at Quincy Regional.

Contrary to a report published last week, the maintenance hub is not yet operational. City officials hope to hold a grand opening event later this month.

The City’s director of administrative services, Gary Sparks, said the city is trying to coordinate all of its property leases with Cape Air to the term of the EAS contract, which would be four years in length.