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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (WSIL)-- The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport could be making a change to where they fly, and that could impact your travel plans if you like flying to Nashville. 

People who use Contour Airlines could soon go to Chicago O'Hare instead of Nashville, Tennessee. 

Airport officials say after October 1st you could be checking in for a flight to Chicago.

Airport Manager, Katrina Amos says it's something both the airport and Contour Airlines have talked about for a while. 

“We've had service to Chicago in the past. And we know it has done really well for us. So that's always been the goal,� Amos said. 

Amos says on Monday the Airline Carrier requested to change its flight service pattern with the Department of Transportation and is waiting for approval. 

“So right now flights are still operating to Nashville,� Amos says. “There's not gonna be an immediate change and I would just ask everyone to just stay tuned as soon as we have official word that we're gonna be moving forward.��

One visitor at the airport’s restaurant says this could be good for the area with the new terminal under construction. 

“This has tremendously improved since we were,� Barbra Ward said. 

Ward and her husband Robert remember when they used to fly to St. Louis from the regional airport. 

“We mainly flew to St. Louis to catch another flight,� Ward said. 

Now they mainly drive to St. Louis to catch their flights, but Amos says the local highways are the competition. 

“Our biggest competition is Interstate 55,� Amos said. 

She said when it came down to choosing a destination to fly into it wasn’t against their neighboring Airports. 

“There was a time when Cape Girardeau was also flying to St. Louis and Marion was flying to St. Louis. There was a time when Paducah was flying to Chicago and Cape Girardeau was flying to Chicago. So that's not uncommon,� Amos said.

But with the possible service change to Chicago Amos says they expect a lot of passengers.

“We've had some of our highest numbers when flying to Chicago,� Amos says. “In 2019 we had our best year in recent history flying out of Cape  Girardeau to Chicago. We had over 11,000 passengers.�

The Wards do not think they will catch a flight out of Cape Girardeau, but Barbra says Robert has flown into Chicago for a connecting flight.

“He's actually flown more from Denver to Chicago or someplace to Chicago then back to Cape,� Ward said.

The Wards say in the future they hope with the new terminal, the airport will add flight destinations.

"I'd like to see them have a flight to Atlanta, we've got a daughter who lives there,� Robert says, “Well, plus we can go anywhere in the world.�

But until the approval, Amos says flights will continue to Nashville Tennessee.