Cole County weighs contribution for airport

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Cole County Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger is asking his fellow commissioners to join other business and government entities in giving financial support to the Columbia Regional Airport to help attract a new airline to the area.

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At Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, Ellinger said he’d like the county to contribute $100,000 in reserve funds because he sees this as an economic development issue.

Columbia officials reported Sunday they had reached their goal of $3 million.

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JCLifer 8 months ago

Funding the regional airport would be a great return for the community and for the taxpayers/travelers in Cole County who use the airport!

wow 8 months ago

BS..why not use the money to improve Cole County/ JC...why not improve the JC Airport?. That money could ajnd should be used here where we live!!!!!! As long as JC continues to play second fiddle to Columbia, then every good opportunity to advance this city will be lost. I'm not opposed to Columbia growinbg and prospering, but I don't wanna pay for that to happen. I'd rather invest in the devlopment and improvment of Jefferson City/Cole County.

thatguyagain 8 months ago

First off, the airports are not comparable. Columbia is a regional commercial airport with flights to hubs to take you anywhere in the world. JC is a commuter airport for personal and corporate flights serving individuals, not the masses. Completely different purposes.

Secondly, the money isn't exactly being spent but rather parked in an escrow account to attract additional airlines. Additional airlines bring access to more hubs (think Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc.) It is common for airlines to request an escrow fund for a set time frame - usually two or three years - to cover any losses they may endure while testing the market. Any money not used at the end of the time is returned to those that invested in the fund. It is rare that any funds are ever paid out to the airlines as they typically start generating profits very quickly.

I'm with you on advancing Jefferson City and Cole County and see this as a great way to accomplish that. We'll have greater access to commercial airlines and the rest of the world will have greater access to us.

richg 8 months ago

Ha, ha, ha.

"It is rare that any funds are ever paid out to the airlines as they typically start generating profits very quickly." That's a good one!

melbrooks 8 months ago

The airline at Columbia (Delta) is making money. They began service in Feb. of 2010, and are now offering flights to Atlanta. The funds being talked about are kept in escrow, and have not been accessed. Thus, they are making money.

See the article below to understand what volume they need to make money, and what volume they are getting. These arrangements are actually pretty common as air service is established.

themaneater.com/stories/2010/4/9/delta-keep-serving-columbia-regional-airport/

JCLifer 8 months ago

Why duplicate efforts like we have done for the past 50 years? Why have two plain little airports when we could have a very nice one? Why should taxpayers subsidize the private jet owners so they can fly out of the little airport right across the river? Let them move their planes to the Regional airport or else pay for their own little airport in Jefferson City.

melbrooks 8 months ago

Why should taxpayers support air transportation infrastructure for private plane owners? The same reason taxpayers support ground transportation infrastructure for private vehicle owners. They are both about transportation.

As thatguyagain indicated, each airport has its role. If the Commission were attempting to support commercial air service at the Jefferson City airport, it would be duplication. But that's not the situation.

JCLifer 8 months ago

The County Commission and the City Council should support ground transportation infrastructure for private airplane owners at the Regional airport.

RobHunterJohnson 8 months ago

They need to change the name if J C, and Cole were to give money. Rob

tonto_goldberg 8 months ago

There are a bunch of good reasons for Cole County and Jefferson City to support the Columbia Regional Airport. Note the "Regional" in the name.

It's about as close to downtown Jefferson City as the Kansas City Airport is to downtown Kansas City. It's already bigger than the Jefferson City Airport and has a lot better development prospects. It's not in a flood plain. It has a much bigger population base and a much bigger business base to support it.

Timothy 8 months ago

Columbia is going to do what they choose to do. There is no advantage to sending money to Columbia. Does anyone really think if we do not monetarily support "their" airport that someone will withhold some mystical benefit? I hope the voters remember how generous "OUR" elected officials were with "OUR" money. Very disappointing.

MO4LIFE 8 months ago

OUR Money will not benefit us in Columbia!

spelchek 8 months ago

I'm leery of our commissioner playing with $100K after the JCFD tax fiasco. Devil is in the details.

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