Veteran St. Louis business travelers, who remember the level of connectivity  Lambert Field had before the drastic American Airlines cuts in 2003, might disagree with this assessment, but Wachovia thinks the airline service in St. Louis is great.

On a conference call to discuss the purchase of A.G. Edwards, a Wachovia executive — I think it was David Carroll, president of the capital management group — mentioned that travel was among the areas where the combined company would save money. He said that Wachovia is a “high touch” organization that brings brokers in often for training and conferences, which will now occur at the retail brokerage headquarters in St. Louis. The executive added: “There’s a direct flight from everywhere to St. Louis, and the other way around.”

Here’s a scorecard, from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics:

• Charlotte (Wachovia corporate headquarters): 10th busiest U.S. airport in number of flights, with  209,398 departures in 2007.
• St. Louis: No. 25 in flights with  120,619 departures in 2007.
• Richmond (where Wachovia brokerage operations are based now): No. 62 in flights with 35,782 departures in 2007.