Improving story structure

For the second time since 2019, the Columbia Regional Airport set a record number of departing passengers.

In total, 21,534 passengers arrived at and departed from the airport in September through the American Airlines service alone.

In October, that number increased to over 28,000 passengers with the addition of United Airlines to the airport as well as a new location, Denver.

This  story began by repeating information that KOMU 8 News had reported months prior, and it lacked a clear news angle. It was an enterprise story about the airport’s finances, not a daily story, and its lede did not advance the story beyond previous reporting. I decided the story would need an overhaul of its structure in order to find an engaging lede.

Officials predict the combination of these two assets will bring in more customers from across mid-Missouri.

“Always having more options for the passenger is a fantastic thing,” Airport Manager Mike Parks said. “So whether people are going to Chicago, Dallas or Denver is super important, but it’s just as important on where their final destination is. Having an additional connection in Denver is fantastic for all passengers."

While the airport is bringing in a high volume of passengers, the struggle remains financially. Over the past five years, the Columbia airport has continued to show an operating loss.

I identified this piece of information as the piece of this story that gave it relevance and advanced our reporting on the airport, so I moved this to the top as part of the lede.
In the fiscal year 2024, the airport ended the year with an operating loss of about $3.2 million. Deputy City Manager Matt Unrein said that number can be misleading because it reflects more than just daily operations.

“Some of the losses you’re seeing really are probably capital improvements,” Unrein said. “When you’re looking at the budget, what you’re seeing is we’re saving for capital expenses over a number of years. When those projects happen in that fiscal year, you’re going to see it all realized at once.”

He said the public often sees the total loss figure without understanding what goes into it.

“It’s going to look like there’s a big loss when, in fact, it’s a planned improvement,” he said. “It was planned for a long time.”

Moving forward, the goal of the airport is to decrease the operating loss over the next few years. With United back at the airport, the increasing revenue will help bolster it as well as provide options for Columbia residents.

“It was a huge home run for our residents,” Unrein said. “Competition is good in this market. It means hopefully fares are going down, and that we have new markets that we can move into.”

However, as the airport continues to grow, more costs arise.

“Parking is a huge issue right now,” Unrein said. “We’re running out of parking spots or availability, so that’s something we’re going to really be looking for.”

Plans for signage improvements and road resurfacing are also viewed as key projects for the future. 

I saw a missing piece of context in this graf that I added and linked to previous reporting to improve stickiness of our site.
“We’re evaluating the need for a new monument sign and signage from Route H to the terminal and rental car facilities,” Parks said. “Everyone who uses the airport knows the current signage doesn’t capture everyone. We want to make it easy for travelers who aren’t familiar with the airport to navigate to the terminal, general aviation drop-offs, or rental cars.”

The goal of new additions to the airport is to drive up passenger numbers. Parks added that bringing in passengers will increase revenue not only in the near term, but also creates a long term improvement. He mentioned with more passengers, a need for additional flights in the future will be necessary. 

Much of this graf was implied throughout the rest of the story and from the officials’ quotes, so I cut it down to make the writing more concise.

"We've got a lot of momentum right now with passenger growth, with flights increasing," said Parks. "We're excited, really, to increase those passengers in the future continue to set records as we move forward, and continue to see new faces flying out of Columbia to help drive more flights in the future."

Some new flights coming to Columbia will also arrive in the summer of 2026. 

In a recent news conference, Parks announced the addition of two flights. One to and from the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport as well as to and from the Orlando Sanford International Airport. The flights are expected to be available twice weekly and from June through August of 2026.

“Ticket prices continue to be extremely competitive with our neighbors to the west and the east of Columbia, so we’d like to remind people that getting this service is fantastic, it’s super exciting, we’re very excited to have United and Allegiant on board now, but we need to make sure that we’re filling all those seats,” Parks said.

This story began to drag on toward the end because it was repeating information from old stories in detail. I moved this context higher up in the story and trimmed some details out so it could more effectively serve as a transition and not distract from the focus of the story.

The Columbia Regional Airport hopes a record numbers of passengers and two announcements of new flights this year are signals of a financial turnaround.

Over the past five years, COU has seen an operating loss.

In the fiscal year 2024, the airport ended the year with an operating loss of about $3.2 million. Deputy City Manager Matt Unrein said that number can be misleading because it reflects more than just daily operations.

“Some of the losses you’re seeing really are probably capital improvements,” Unrein said. “When you’re looking at the budget, what you’re seeing is we’re saving for capital expenses over a number of years. When those projects happen in that fiscal year, you’re going to see it all realized at once.”

He said the public often sees the total loss figure without understanding what goes into it.

“It’s going to look like there’s a big loss when, in fact, it’s a planned improvement,” he said. “It was planned for a long time.”

The Columbia Regional Airport had two record-setting months this year in the number of departing passengers. In September, the airport saw its highest monthly total since before the COVID-19 pandemic. In October, that number increased again with the addition of United Airlines to the airport as well as a new location, Denver.

COU also announced that Allegiant Airlines will offer flights to Florida in summer 2026, one to Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport and the other to Orlando Sanford International Airport.

The airport hopes to decrease the operating loss over the next few years as the arrival of the new airlines increases revenue helps bolster finances.

Airport officials also predict the added destinations will bring in new customers from across mid-Missouri.

“Always having more options for the passenger is a fantastic thing,” Airport Manager Mike Parks said. “So whether people are going to Chicago, Dallas or Denver is super important, but it’s just as important on where their final destination is. Having an additional connection in Denver is fantastic for all passengers."

However, as the airport continues to grow, more costs arise.

“Parking is a huge issue right now,” Unrein said. “We’re running out of parking spots or availability, so that’s something we’re going to really be looking for.”

Plans for signage improvements and road resurfacing are also viewed as key projects for the future. The airport also implemented a new policy restricting long-term parking.

“We’re evaluating the need for a new monument sign and signage from Route H to the terminal and rental car facilities,” Parks said. “Everyone who uses the airport knows the current signage doesn’t capture everyone. We want to make it easy for travelers who aren’t familiar with the airport to navigate to the terminal, general aviation drop-offs or rental cars.”

Parks said that as passenger numbers grow, the demand for new flights might grow in the long term, too.

"We've got a lot of momentum right now with passenger growth, with flights increasing," Parks said. "We're excited, really, to increase those passengers in the future continue to set records as we move forward, and continue to see new faces flying out of Columbia to help drive more flights in the future."