By DOUG WILSON

Herald-Whig Senior Writer

Great Lakes Airlines will add a new flight to Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, but contrary to previous reports, the carrier will maintain its current three weekday flight schedule to St. Louis.

Monica Taylor, director of sales and marketing for Great Lakes, confirmed Thursday that earlier reports of a fourth daily flight to St. Louis were incorrect. She said reporters who called in early June were given the best information available at the time, but when airline schedules came out, the added flight was to Kansas City and not St. Louis.

“We weren’t prepared to talk with the press. We didn’t even have the schedule,” Taylor said.

Quincy officials also had expected the fourth flight to St. Louis and had welcomed what they saw as a step toward full compliance with a federal Essential Air Service contract that calls for 24 flights a week between Quincy and St. Louis.

“I was incorrect. I was under the impression the fourth flight was to St. Louis,” said Marty Stegeman, manager of Quincy Regional Airport.

Chuck Howell, CEO of Great Lakes, said the Kansas City flight will involve a plane that also serves Burlington, Iowa. Howell said his airline has higher passenger numbers to Kansas City on one flight from Burlington than from two other flights to St. Louis.

Mayor John Spring was surprised and frustrated by news of the flight schedule. He had expected that the fourth flight to St. Louis would fulfill the airline’s EAS contract.

“I find it a little disingenuous that they’ve added Kansas City, and they aren’t living up to their contract to serve us” with St. Louis flights, Spring said.

Great Lakes launched flights between Quincy and St. Louis in November, offering only two daily flights. Passenger numbers were low because connections were poor.

In March, the airline added a third daily flight and upgraded the schedule so there is a 6 a.m. departure from Quincy and a 9:20 p.m. arrival. Passenger numbers have gone up greatly.

Spring had seen the addition of a Kansas City flight as a bonus until he was told by Stegeman about the new schedule.

“To tell the truth, the fourth flight is not as big a priority as getting them to enter a code-share agreement with American Airlines,” Spring said.

A code-share agreement would give Quincy travelers lower airfares if they were connecting with American Airlines planes, joint ticket sales sites and seamless transfers at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport.

Howell said the airline entered a code-share agreement with United Airlines for the Kansas City flights. The holdup in reaching a code-share agreement with American Airlines hinges on greater restrictions on Great Lakes, he said.

“United Airlines lets us still fly independent. And we’ve got the same deal with Frontier,” Howell said. “American wants us to be 100 percent exclusive.”

Great Lakes officials have dealt with complaints from federal officials, as well as those in Quincy, about the code share and flight share. However, the airline is one of only a few that is still seeking EAS contracts to serve small and midsize airports.

Mesa Air Group recently shut down Air Midwest, canceling flights to 20 cities in 10 states. Big Sky airlines has left EAS markets, as well. RegionsAir’s collapse last year and struggles by Colgan Air Inc. in the eastern United States have added to the bad news for EAS contractors.

“Airlines are in business to make money, and they’re not. In fact, they’re losing billions of dollars,” stock analyst Jim Corridore told The Associated Press.

Great Lakes is one of the few regional airlines that seems to be interested in EAS contracts. Financial reports from last year indicate the airline posted a $19 million profit.

Howell said the airline’s careful approach has helped it stay in business while some competitors have gone out of business or downsized.

Stegeman said other airport managers have listened to his concerns about getting another flight and a code-share agreement. Some are envious that Quincy has the service it does.

— dwilson@whig.com/221-3372