The Muskegon County Airport is undergoing significant upgrades that officials say will “rebirth” the regional airfield where passenger numbers have dropped by more than 60% since 2019.
The airport, which is owned and operated by Muskegon County and located at 101 Sinclair Drive in Norton Shores, is undergoing a $3 million terminal renovation that is expected to wrap in December. Next spring, it will launch a $20.3 million project to relocate the taxiway.
The airport will remain open throughout both projects.
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Together, the efforts are meant to help rejuvenate the 95-year-old airport, which currently offers five daily commercial commuter flights to Chicago and sees anywhere between 50 and 150 daily flights from private aircraft and student pilots.
“This is part of our larger effort to modernize and provide a rebirth to this airport,” said Ken Efting, Muskegon County Airport director. “We’re taking all of the passenger feedback that we received over the last decade and using it to mold what we think the traveler wants to see here in Muskegon.”
Efting said the airport hopes to increase the quality of the passenger experience through the projects. Earlier this year, the airport also rolled out free day and overnight parking as part of that effort.
The airport also is working on a plan to secure a new airline service provider to increase its passenger capacity and flight reliability.
Terminal, taxiway upgrades
The terminal where passengers board and disembark will get a new roof, front facade, entryway, carpet, bathrooms and a new restaurant to enhance the traveler experience.
“We’ve already bought all new equipment (for the restaurant), and we’re just waiting for the roof project to wrap up so that we can get started on it without dust from drywalling and everything else going on,” Efting said.
The airport’s previous restaurant, The Brownstone, closed in 2016 and was never replaced. Muskegon County will seek a new tenant for the space once the restaurant is built out.
The terminal project is being funded by $800,000 from Muskegon County’s airport budget and two separate allocations of $1.01 million apiece from Michigan’s allocation from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
Colliers Engineering & Design in Grand Rapids is the architect on the terminal projects, and Gaines Township-based CarbonSix Construction is the general contractor.
Following the building upgrades, the airport will shift focus to an airfield project. The taxiway that allows planes to move between terminals, parking areas and runways is too close to the runway based on current Federal Aviation Administration standards, and will be relocated about 75 feet southeast, Efting said.
The project will involve removing the existing 6,500-foot taxiway, its runway connectors and all existing lighting, navigational aids and underground utilities. The taxiway and its systems will then be reconstructed farther away with all new infrastructure and connectors.
The taxiway project is being funded by about $19.3 million in FAA grant funding and about $507,500 apiece from Muskegon County and the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Office of Aeronautics.
Muskegon County has not yet selected contractors for the taxiway project but plans to seek bids in February, Efting said.
Boosting passenger numbers
Alongside the upgrades, the Muskegon County Airport also is working to secure a new airline service provider.
Pending U.S. Department of Transportation approval, the airport will replace Southern Airways Express with Denver Air Connection. The former offers nine-seat commuter planes through agreements with American Airlines, United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, while the latter runs 50-seat jets via American, United and Delta Airlines.
After the switch, the airport will offer fewer flights per day but will increase the number of passengers that can fly out because of the larger jet size, Efting said.
During the pandemic, Muskegon County Airport lost its previous airline service provider, SkyWest Airlines, and switched to Southern Airways.
Efting said the switch caused capacity and reliability issues, and the airport subsequently saw its passenger numbers plummet by about 64%, from 42,000 travelers flying in and out of the airport in 2019 to about 15,000 last year.
Muskegon is among the smallest of Michigan’s 15 commercial service airports. The airport’s 15,000 total passengers and 4,500 commercial passenger boardings last year were a fraction of Gerald R. Ford International Airport’s 1.9 million commercial enplanements in 2023 and Detroit Metro’s 15.4 million, according to estimated FAA data for 2023 released in June.
Muskegon County Administrator Mark Eisenbarth said the county hopes the airport upgrades and the airline switch will better support the needs of commuters and private pilots who fly into Muskegon for business and leisure.
“We hope it does bring more visitation, whether flying in from Chicago or leaving here and going somewhere else,” he said. “West Michigan is starting to see a lot more traffic, whether they’re driving or flying, and hotels in West Michigan are, on average, booked more and more frequently … so no matter how they’re getting here, we want to be able to accommodate their needs.”
He added that the county hopes to increase the number of hangars for private planes at the airport in a future phase.
“We’re inviting people here to our community,” he said. “We want them to come to our community, and I think we’re set to do that and to make it their vacation spot.”
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