By Dominic Welling
An 'Aerotropolis' bill designed to transform Lambert-St Louis International Airport into a major Midwest hub for US-China cargo traffic has fallen down at the last hurdle.
Although the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri Senate had both individually passed the bill in April, it was unable to pass through the final stage at the Missouri General Assembly last week as the various parties were still ironing out additional details as time ran out.
The Aerotropolis Bill was created to attract businesses to the airport by offering up to $360 million in tax incentives, and in turn entice China Eastern Airlines to make Lambert-St Louis (STL) its principal cargo base in the US Midwest.
The Aerotropolis Trade Incentive and Tax Credit Act, authorises the creation of gateway zones at STL where shippers can receive $0.25 of credit for every kilo shipped on an outbound flight and credits equal to $0.30 per kilo of perishable goods shipped from the gateway.
Meanwhile, from January 2013 owners of freight forwarding facilities within the zone will also be entitled to an exemption from state income and corporate franchise taxes for up to seven years.
As a result, the incentives could play a major part in convincing China Eastern to base regular international cargo flights at the airport.
The project has wide support among St. Louis businesses and political groups, however when the clock was ticking all groups involved failed to reach a complete agreement, as it got caught up with other legislation.
Time ran out before everyone could agree and therefore no Aerotropolis bill was passed. For it to go any further a special session will now have to be called.
Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, airport director at Lambert-St Louis, said: "We had support in both the Missouri House and Senate for the Aerotropolis legislation.
"Even so, it did not pass because it got tied up with other legislation and there was not enough time to work through the other issues to end the deadlock.
"Even so, we are still hopeful that legislators can review and vote again on the measure if a special session is called."
