Joplin airport passenger count rises

Steve Stockam, airport manager, said Friday that Mesa Air Group carried 1,979 passengers in August. Mesa, operating as U.S. Air Express, began offering three roundtrip flights a day from Joplin to Kansas City International Airport on Aug. 1.

The airport’s previous airline carried 1,715 passengers to St. Louis in August 2005. In July, 1,503 passengers used the airport. Stockam said the August 2006 total is the highest single month traffic count for the airport since June 2004, when 1,994 passengers used the airport.

“These are outstanding numbers that we really did not expect,” Stockam said.

Stockam said that he anticipated approximately 1,200 passengers in August. He said he thought a number of factors — the new airline, new destination and increased security — would slow the service’s popularity.

Mesa receives a federal subsidy to offset the cost of the service to Kansas City. The airline came to Joplin after Trans States Airlines, which operated as AmericanConnection, decided to end its EAS deal.

Mesa plans to begin offering two roundtrip flights a day to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Oct. 5.

Tickets to Kansas City are $49 one-way. Dallas fares begin at $198, with a $148 introductory fare available.

Stockam said that more passengers from outside the Joplin-area are using the airport. The out-of-market fliers say they are coming to the airport because of free parking, low fares and the Kansas City flights; Springfield-Branson National Airport does not offer flights to Kansas City.

So far this year, 13,089 passengers have used the airport, compared to 12,626 to the same point last year.

Jeff Wells is editor of Joplin Tri-State Business, Springfield Business Journal’s sister publication. He can be reached at jwells@joplintsb.com.