Three airlines are in the running to offer regional air service at Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois.
The current provider, Cape Air is competing against Contour Airlines, which recently took over service at the Cape Girardeau and Paducah airports, as well as Southern Airways Express.
Veterans Airport Manager Doug Kimmel told us last fall, Cape Air decided to enter into a re-bidding process a year early because of rising costs.
“The Airport and the communities have an opportunity to weigh in on which proposal we would like to see. Whether it be based upon community recommendation to go with someone else or a much lower cost proposal that still provides an adequate level of service comes in, DOT certainly has at their discretion the ability to award this to someone else.”
Each of the three air service proposals can be viewed on the Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois web page.
The public has until February 9 to vote for their preference. Kimmel says the airport board will meet on the 9th to vote on its selection, which will then be sent to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The DOT could select the air service provider within 60 days.
