A Future for Columbia Skies

DOWNWIND FROM A TRYING election cycle, amidst gasps of relief that it’s over, conservatives and many business people are frustrated and depressed in the aftermath. With more and more people sustained by food stamps, EBT cards and other forms of public assistance, the Election Day outcomes on all levels were hardly surprising. Some post-election analysts are already predicting further one-party dominance into perpetuity by the Democratic Party and with it the continuing decline of various conservative movements. The strengthening blue aura lining the sunny skies over our own area finds Columbia and Boone County blessed by the continued inward-bound federal and state cash flows that will continue to enrich the region’s already robust government, education and medical communities. Sunny skies and “happy days” indeed are here, and may they continue to bless our region forever and ever.

As matters relate to our skies of passenger aviation, however, there is plenty of angst.

The Delta departure

With triumph over the apparent success and expansion of the southeast-bound Delta connection comes a setback with the carrier’s recent termination-of-service announcement. With claimed losses that tally in the high six figures and miffed by the financial incentives American Airlines, through its Eagle affiliate, was offered, the Atlanta-based carrier — like American, an industry pioneer dating back to the 1920s — has decided to grab its aviation toys early next year and commit those crafts to other destinations. What looked like three steps forward over the past year — first Delta, followed by Frontier and now American Eagle — has taken a pronounced backward step with Delta’s departure announcement. That leaves Chapter 11-entangled American Eagle to connect Columbia Regional Airport to two admittedly sought-after Holy Grail hubs: Chicago O’Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth. But then, what about Atlanta, another significant hub and the only real anchor point in the MU-connected Southeast Conference?

It’s a very distant memory back to the days when commercial air service, routes and fares were regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board, which was established in 1938. Almost 40 years ago, the late President Gerald Ford and Sen. Edward Kennedy began talking about airline deregulation, and CAB Chairman Alfred E. Kahn (1917-2010), who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, pushed along the idea that in 1985 led to the abolition of the very agency Kahn was overseeing. As the free market replaced the regulated one and subsidies such as air mail contracts went away, cities such as Columbia along with hundreds of others found themselves wrestling with how to maintain continued air service as deregulation unfolded. Here was a situation that replicated the earlier reduction and eventual demise of one time nearly universal rail passenger service to thousands of communities across the country; the last Centralia-bound passenger train left Columbia on the evening of April 17, 1969.

Securing reliable service

Mayor Bob McDavid has pressed forward on the airline service issue augmented by City Manager Mike Matthes, the city’s aviation consultant and the wholehearted support of many other groups and agencies. The loss of the Delta connection is a setback for sure. Now we seek confidence in the pending arrangement with American Eagle buttressed by the bona fide revenue guarantees Delta seemed to eschew any interest in securing. Rather than brickbat the mayor and everyone else associated with this ongoing project, we should encourage the mayor to go for another term, a decision he says will be determined by family considerations; his announcement is expected around the first of December. Aviation issues in general and the vexing issue of securing and maintaining reliable air passenger service to hub designations have been keynotes for McDavid, and he should stick around to help turn those dreams into lasting realities.

Finally, in a city southwest of here that’s slightly smaller than Columbia, voters recently approved (by a 4-1 majority) what they call automated trash collection, which would be roll carts to us. Because we might haughtily consider ourselves somewhat more progressive than dinky old Fort Smith, Ark., Columbia residents have dug in their heels in boisterous opposition to roll carts. City officials never even got a crack at advertising the advantages of automated trash collection, let alone providing the opportunity for a community-wide referendum on the issue. From comments carried by the warmer winds out of “True Grit” country, residents of the Hanging Judge’s hometown don’t seem as troubled as we have been about roll carts.