BY DAVE FOPAY Staff Writer

MATTOON - Commercial passenger service departed from Coles County Memorial Airport a year ago, but. that didn't have as big an impact on the air- port as some might think.

That's what airport Manager Jerry Carter said about the 12 months since the last commercial passenger plane flew out of the airport. There's been work on bringing in other businesses, but passenger flights probably won't return, he said.

"We've had some contacts for resuming air service, but I don't feel that is realistically possible," Carter said.

It was a year ago this week that Great Lakes Aviation Ltd., which operated at the airport under the name United Express, ended its passenger service here. The airline had been providing two daily flights to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. What prompted the airline's departure was the decision by the U .S. Department of Transportation to end its subsidy payments for the service. The federal government provides the subsidies to help airlines operate in some smaller markets, but the amount Great Lakes needed exceeded the maximum subsidy amount.

It was likely that the proximity to other cities' airports -Champaign, Indianapolis, St. Louis and others -made it more attractive for local travelers to drive there for flights that cost less than fares out of Coles County .For example, just before the airline left it cost $258 to fly from Coles County to New York but only $198 for a flight to New York from the airports of any of those other cities.

Carter said that's the problem several airports in smaller cities have in trying to sustain passenger service. Decatur's airport, with a larger surrounding population, couldn’t keep flights to Chicago and had them only when they were part of the routes that served Coles County, he said.

"That sort of tells you what we're up against," he said.

Any new passenger carrier for Coles County would probably need to have the federal subsidy money to operate, but other cities are "fighting for those dollars" and it would be difficult to get the subsidies renewed here, Carter added.

He said Coles Together, the county's economic development organization, surveyed local industry about having a freight service at the airport and discussion has taken place about bringing in such an operation. Also, Central Illinois Air Corp., the airport's service operator, is now leasing a second building from the airport and is trying to attract more planes.

"We don't have a big, empty building we're looking for someone to use," Carter said.

Meanwhile, the actual impact on the airport from the airline's leaving has been "minimal," Carter continued, with the number of flights in and out of the airport decreasing by less than 5 percent last year. Also, Illinois Consolidated Telephone Co. flew more people in its corporate planes than the airline did, he said.

The airport received about $700 a month in rent from Great Lakes, about 1 percent of the airport's total income. Carter said Central Illinois Air did lose some fuel sales because of the airline's leaving, but other businesses, such as the airport restaurant, weren't really affected.

Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com