Call it quaint, charming, dilapidated or just rundown. However you describe it, the small airfield on the outskirts of town was home to the St. Charles Flying Service for more than four decades.

But that all changed last month when the owners of the 67-year-old St. Charles Municipal Airport ended the school's lease, creating doubts about the future of one of the last flight schools in the region.

The news wasn't unexpected. The field's owners, who are expected to close the airport this summer, had hinted this day might come. That's why flight school owner Dennis Bampton has leased space for more than four years at Smartt Field, several miles to the northeast. The school and its 43 employees plan to reopen there during the week of June 21.

The move comes as industry changes and rising costs are driving many flight schools out of business. A region that had more than a dozen schools 10 years ago now has fewer than half that number.

"It never was cheap. But today, it's even worse," Bampton said. "People are fighting to save their homes. They sure as the devil don't have $4,000 to spend on getting a license."

Experts say the sector has been hammered from many directions over the last decade, ending a heyday that started in the 1950s and 1960s when explosive airline growth created enormous demand for pilots.

That demand has been sapped by:

• Declining salaries.

• A federal law that extended by five years, to 65, the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots.

• Rising fuel and insurance costs.

• A sour economy that has grounded many leisure pilots.

"This is something a lot of people are scratching their heads over right now," said Jeff Forrest, chairman of the aviation department at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, one of the largest such programs in the nation.

Consider the simple economics of flying. In the 1970s, a student paid $20 or less for an hour of flight training. Today, that same hour costs seven to 10 times more, Forrest said.

Now, schools like Bampton's are being hit from two directions.

Leisure pilots find it hard to justify the cost. After spending as much as $6,000 on a basic license, pilots face airplane rental fees of $100 or more per hour just to use it.

And on the professional side, career-oriented students are turning to four-year college programs such as the one offered by St. Louis University's Parks College. They are more expensive but offer more structured training and career support, said Ken Qualls, an aviation consultant with Flight Management Solutions of Boca Raton, Fla.

There are some exceptions, he said, but smaller schools don't offer as much for would-be airline pilots: "In today's world, it's not a very optimistic path to take."

These are the sorts of things on Bampton's mind as he sorts, boxes and moves the equipment, furniture and four decades worth of memories from the squat building perched on the edge of St. Charles Municipal's field.

Still, there are reasons to be happy about the move.

Municipal's runway is old and needs repairs. The driveway leading onto the property is marred by potholes. Hangars, including the one built by the Busch family in the 1960s, are rusting. The flight school needs a paint job.

The former Army helicopter pilot knows he will be welcomed at Smartt, where his employees and students will provide an infusion of traffic. There's also a better runway there, with potential to draw more pilots and business to his maintenance operation.

Smartt's manager, Tracy Smith, is happy to see the activity. That it includes a flight school is a bonus.

"New pilots are the people who, at some point, will buy airplanes and use airports," Smith said. "That's good for aviation."

Still, Bampton has concerns. First is his fear of flooding, with Smartt historically being more vulnerable than St. Charles Municipal. But he's also worried about moving farther from potential students.

Working in his favor is the fact that no other small school in the region offers Part 141 training. There are basically two types of training programs — Part 141 and Part 61 — with each drawing its name from the federal aviation regulations that govern them.

Both teach a student how to fly. But Part 141 schools are more structured and strictly regulated, with courses approved by the federal officials. For a student seeking a commercial license, a Part 141 school can also be considerably cheaper, requiring 60 fewer hours of flight time.

It's a distinction that's important students like Fenton's Nick Brawley, who got his basic license in December and is now working on an instrument rating designation that will allow him to fly in less-than-ideal weather.

Brawley, who lost his first flight school last September when Langa Air closed its Chesterfield and Bethalto operations, figures the new location will add another half hour to his total commute. He's not worried. He just hopes the school weathers the move.

"I'm very hopeful that it will survive," Brawley said. "It sort of baffles me that more people don't get into it."