Muskegon County Airport
Muskegon County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport in Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. The airport is located four nautical miles south of the central business district of Muskegon, Michigan, in Norton Shores. It is mostly used for general aviation but is also served by United Express flying CRJ-200 regional jets to its Chicago-O'Hare hub. The airport and the county of Muskegon restored service to Chicago through the Essential Air Service program.
As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 30,051 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 15,886 in 2009, and 13,088 in 2010. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
History
In 1927 the Greater Muskegon Chamber of Commerce began a campaign to establish the Muskegon County Airport. The Muskegon County Board of Commissioners approved the construction of the airport's first terminal in 1931. The Works Progress Administration project cost the county $12,000.United Airlines ended flights to Chicago in October 1979; subsequent service to Chicago ended in 2002. United had operated Boeing 737-200 jet service into the airport during the mid 1970s. Another airline that operated jet service into Muskegon during this same time was North Central Airlines with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 twinjets. Muskegon County Airport was the recipient of both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 Balchen/Post Awards for outstanding achievement in snow and ice control in the small commercial service airport category. Midwest Connect discontinued service to Milwaukee, effective September 2008. Also in September, the airport was awarded a $650,000 federal Small Community Air Service grant to restore non-stop flights to Chicago-O'Hare International Airport. On July 15, 2009, Mesaba Airlines petitioned the DOT for Essential Air Service subsidies to continue operating into Muskegon and seven other communities. Per DOT procedure, these cities were opened for bids by all interested carriers. For Muskegon, SkyWest Airlines submitted a bid to provide service to Chicago which required less than half the annual subsidy Mesaba wanted to continue service to Detroit. SkyWest was selected in November 2009, and began service on February 12, 2010, replacing Mesaba. SkyWest initially operated under a two-year contract for the service but continues to currently provide
flights with regional jets.
The airport hosted an air show called the Muskegon Air Fair until 2006. Due to budget deficits, the air fair was placed on hiatus for the summer of 2007, but had been reinstated during Muskegon's Summer Celebration. However, as of 2011, the air show was indefinitely canceled because of additional losses.
Delta Connection offered a flight to Detroit until United Express started service to Chicago and passenger count decreased to where Delta stopped service.
Facilities and aircraft
Muskegon County Airport covers an area of 1,200 acres at an elevation of 629 feet above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 6/24 is 6,501 by 150 feet and 14/32 is 6,100 by 150 feet.For the 12-month period ending August 31, 2012, the airport had 35,194 aircraft operations, an average of 96 per day: 90% general aviation, 4% scheduled commercial, 3% air taxi, and 3% military. At that time 81 aircraft were based at this airport: 64% single-engine, 26% multi-engine, 5% jet, 4% helicopter, and 1% military.
The airport is served by a fixed-base operator, . The FBO provides fuel and other pilot services. Car rental agencies are available at the airport. The Muskegon Area Transit System route Harvey provides bus service to the airport.
Airline and destination
The following airlines offer scheduled passenger service:Skywest, operating as United Express, currently flies Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets on all nonstop services between Muskegon and Chicago.
Statistics
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Airline |
| 1 | Chicago–O'Hare International | 19,000 | United Express |