For the second week in a row, the Chinese aren't coming.
China Cargo has canceled its scheduled Monday freight flight to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, airport officials said Friday, a move that raises serious concerns about the viability of Lambert's fledgling cargo hub project.
Last month the airline landed its first Shanghai-to-St. Louis cargo flight to great fanfare, then ran a second on Oct. 19. But now it has canceled the regularly scheduled Monday flight for the second consecutive week.
Lambert officials said they have not been told exactly why, but suspect there are two reasons: one local, one global.
Both cancellations have come since the collapse of the so-called Aerotropolis tax credits, a $60 million program to subsidize air exports from Missouri. It was intended to make cargo flights from Lambert cheaper than from competing cargo hubs like Chicago-O'Hare, but it died in the Legislature last week.
"We believe there is some correlation" between the tax credit demise and the canceled flights, said airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge.
But perhaps a bigger factor is the global economy.
Demand for air cargo has been weaker than expected this year, and while there's typically a fall rush ahead of the holidays, this fall it isn't panning out. International freight flown by Asian-based carriers was down 6.5 percent in September compared with last year, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. And Chinese aviation officials this week slashed their cargo forecast for the rest of 2011.
"It's not isolated to St. Louis," Hamm-Niebruegge said. "The air cargo market out of China is softer than expected and the impact is being felt across the world."
Still, the timing is tough for St. Louis.
Lambert and local business leaders have been talking with the Chinese for four years and call the hub project a potential game-changer for the region's economy. They had hoped to start with three flights a week but said they would build from one after the Aerotropolis bill fell apart. Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Nixon spent the week in China on a long-planned trade trip and was set to meet with aviation officials there.
It's unclear how that meeting went. Nixon canceled a conference call Wednesday with reporters because of scheduling conflicts, and his spokesman hasn't answered questions about the aviation meeting.
Nor is it clear what happens next. China Cargo has a two-year lease on a building and ramp space at Lambert, at a cost of $14,549 a month, but that doesn't mean they have to fly planes. As of Friday, Lambert had gotten no word on when the next flight would land.
"It's going to be a week-to-week thing at this point," said airport spokesman Jeff Lea.
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