Quincy Aeronautics Committee recommends sticking with Cape Air

While last year wasn’t great for air travel (or a lot of other things), Quincy Regional Airport Director Sandra Shore said Cape Air was a good partner through the COVID Pandemic, which crippled the airline industry (and a lot of other things).

“Throughout the Pandemic, (Cape Air) set us up with two hubs and kept us up to national levels,” Shore said after she recommended a four-year contract with the airline as the airport’s Essential Air Service provider to the Quincy Aeronautics Committee Wednesday afternoon.

Cape Air pledged to maintain 36 flights a week, 18 apiece to Lambert International in St. Louis (at a one way cost of $47 a flight) and O’Hare in Chicago (at a one way cost of $72 a flight).

Cape Air also provides a codeshare with American Airlines and interline agreements with other major carriers such as United and Delta.

The four-year subsidy would be just under $14 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which must sign off on the deal.

Two people spoke out in favor of Cape Air during the meeting’s public comment period: Quincy Media President and CEO Ralph Oakley and former Quincy Regional Airport Director Jeff Steinkamp.

The committee accepted Shore’s recommendation unanimously and the City should find out if it will be accepted later this year.

Shore also said enplanements are starting to creep closer to pre-Pandemic levels. QRA had 769 enplanements in May, which is up from the 188 they had last year but still lower than the 970 enplanements they had in May 2019.