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Going Public: Nearing Retirement, Cape Airport’s Bruce Loy Looks Back On His 22 Years As Manager

Lindsey Grojean/KRCU
Airport manager Bruce Loy welcomes new air carrier, SkyWest in December 2017. Loy has announced he will retire in January.

In January, Bruce Loy will be retiring from his position as manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. After 22 years, a lot has been accomplished under his wing, and he expects a few more projects to take off during the time he has left.

One includes building a new tower, land acquisition, and hangar at the airport, which will be funded by a capital improvement sales tax recently approved by voters. 

“When I came here, there weren’t a lot of buildings on the airport and I’m kind of proud of what we’ve done,” says Loy. “I wish we could’ve done more, but we’ve increased our traffic quite a bit.”

By ‘traffic,’ Loy is referring to both general and business aviation. Just this month, boardings topped the 10,000 mark across this calendar year. This is thanks to a large development made in December of 2017, when the U.S. Department of Transportation approved United Express airline SkyWest as the new air carrier to provide service to the airport.

“Gosh, I was out here a couple Saturdays ago, and by 2 or 3 o’clock, the tower told me they were up to 150 operations [that day], and that’s either a take-off or a landing,” says Loy. “From an economic standpoint, I think people in this area and this region really do understand the importance of the airport and what it brings.”

Credit Lindsey Grojean/KRCU

Covering everything from education and politics to conservation efforts and health/science, nothing is off limits on KRCU's Going Public. This locally-produced program provides a space for officials and community members to speak on the latest news in - and issues facing - the southeast Missouri region.