Houghton County Memorial Airport is a county-owned public-use
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
located four
nautical miles (5
mi, 7
km) southwest of the
central business district of
Calumet, a village in
Houghton County, Michigan
Houghton County is a county in the Upper Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 37,361. The county seat and largest city is Houghton. Both the county and the city were named for Michigan State geolo ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
The airport is situated in the unincorporated community of Oneco in
Franklin Township, near the village of
Calumet on the
Keweenaw Peninsula in northwest of the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...
. A limited scheduled commercial service is available, subsidized by the
Essential Air Service
Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...
program. In addition, Royale Air Service provides a
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
service to
Isle Royale National Park
Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan ...
depending on traveler demand.
It is included in the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
(FAA)
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is
categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
History
The first airfields in the Keweenaw Peninsula were, as common at the time, near the shoreline; several are known to have existed on both sides of the Portage Canal, with airmail and ad hoc passenger service to Chicago's
Meigs Field
Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced , formerly ) was a single-runway airport in Chicago that was in operation from December 1948 until March 2003 on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula on Lake Michigan. The airport sat adjacent to ...
. These fields could not accommodate increasingly larger aircraft in the post-WWII era, and their locations made them unsuitable for expansion. Houghton County Memorial Airport was commissioned at its current location in 1948, with air service on
Wisconsin Central Airlines
North Central Airlines was a regional airline in the Midwestern United States. Founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, the company moved to Madison in 1947. This is also when the "Herman the duck" logo was bor ...
commencing a few months later via
milk run
The phrase milk run originated in World War II, when United States Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force aircrews used it to describe a mission with little danger.
Other sources show the term "milk run" to be in use in rural areas of the American Upp ...
service to Chicago and Detroit via many intermediate stops.
For the next sixty years, Wisconsin Central's corporate successors - sequentially,
North Central Airlines
North Central Airlines was a regional airline in the Midwestern United States. Founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, the company moved to Madison in 1947. This is also when the "Herman the duck" logo was bo ...
,
Republic Airlines
Republic Airlines was an American airline formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquarters were at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, in what is now Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Fort ...
,
Northwest Airlink
Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...
operated by
Simmons Airlines
Simmons Airlines was a United States airline. It was the predecessor to American Eagle Airlines. Its headquarters were originally near Marquette, Michigan, at the Marquette County Airport in Negaunee Township, and were eventually moved to the ...
,
Mesaba Airlines
Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012 the airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation with code sharing flights operated as De ...
, and
Pinnacle Airlines
Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Cha ...
, and
Delta Connection
Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...
- maintained regular passenger service, to varying combinations of Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis. Flights to Detroit usually included a stop at
Marquette County Airport
Marquette County Airport is a former airport in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, located in Negaunee Township in Marquette County, several miles west of the city of Marquette. With the 1995 closure of nearby K. I. Sawyer Air Force ...
until 1999, and
Sawyer International Airport
Sawyer International Airport is a county-owned public-use airport in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. It is located south of the central business district of the city of Marquette. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administrati ...
from 1999-2003, when direct service to Detroit was cancelled in favor of exclusive service to Minneapolis.
Following the
great recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
in 2008-2009 and corresponding reduction in passenger traffic,
Mesaba Airlines
Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was an American regional airline based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012 the airline was a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation with code sharing flights operated as De ...
filed for subsidized service under the
Essential Air Service
Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...
program. Despite strong community support for Mesaba's service, the FAA instead selected
Skywest Airlines, operating as
United Express
United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights.
On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...
, making two daily flights to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. On 11 March 2022, SkyWest announced its intention to withdraw from the airport (and 30 others), which would leave the airport with no scheduled passenger service. The airport soon rejected the airline's plans to reduce flight frequencies to the airport.
IATA Code
The airport's
IATA airport code, CMX, has been explained in several ways. According to the airport authority, it stands for Canadian Michigan eXchange, as the airfield would serve as an emergency diversion point for flights from cities like
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
to western Canada. Although the airport does occasionally host weather-related diversions, especially for flights to
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population i ...
, for the most part the relatively short runway, limited emergency facilities, and less favorable weather compared to nearby
Sawyer International Airport
Sawyer International Airport is a county-owned public-use airport in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. It is located south of the central business district of the city of Marquette. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administrati ...
in
Marquette mean the latter is preferred.
A second explanation, possibly apocryphal, references the once-common practice of appending "X" to two-character weather station codes, such as seen, for example, in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
(LAX) and
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
(PDX) - with "CM" in this case referencing nearby Calumet.
Facilities and aircraft
![HoughtonCountyAirportMichigan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/HoughtonCountyAirportMichigan.jpg)
Houghton County Memorial Airport covers an area of at an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...
of above
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set.
For a data set, the '' ari ...
. It has two
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
paved
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...
s: 13/31 is 6,500 by 150 feet (1,981 x 46 m) and 7/25 is 5,201 by 100 feet (1,585 x 30 m).
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2019, the airport had 16,054 aircraft operations, an average of 44 per day: 68% were
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
, 19%
scheduled commercial, 13%
air taxi
An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand.
In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...
and less than 1%
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. In May 2022, there were 22 aircraft based at this airport: 20 single-engine and 2 multi-engine.
The passenger terminal building, named after former County Commissioner W. Clarence Dwyer, is a comparatively basic facility, with a passenger waiting room and a single rental car counter. There is one gate, consisting of a simple door leading to the tarmac. The terminal once included a cafe, which closed some time ago, and the space was repurposed into offices for the Veterans Administration.
The airport has an
FBO offering fuel and rental car services.
Airline and destination
Passenger
Statistics
Cargo operations
Accidents & Incidents
*On June 29, 1972, North Central Airlines flight 290 was involved in a
collision over Lake Winnebago. The flight originated at Houghton County Airport.
*On April 25, 2000, a
Northwest Airlink
Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-siz ...
Saab 340B
The Saab 340 is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by Saab AB and Fairchild Aircraft. It is designed to seat 30-36 passengers and, as of July 2018, there were 240 operational aircraft used by 34 different op ...
impacted a deer during its takeoff run at Houghton. The airplane received substantial damage, but the 21 aboard were not injured. The deer impacted the aircraft's left engine, which automatically shut down, and the takeoff run was safely aborted.
*On October 7, 2015, a plane was flipped over at Houghton County by a wind gust. The pilot received slight injuries.
References
Other sources
* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2009-0160 from the
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
:
*
Ninety-day notice (July 15, 2009) from Mesaba Aviation, Inc. of its intent to discontinue unsubsidized scheduled air service at the following communities, effective October 12, 2009: Paducah, KY; Alpena, MI; Muskegon, MI; Hancock, MI; Sault Ste. Marie, MI; International Falls, MN; Tupelo, MS and Eau Claire, WI.
* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2009-0302 from the
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
:
*
Memorandum (November 19, 2009) closing out docket DOT-2009-0160 and opening up eight new dockets for the various communities (Alpena, MI; Eau Claire, WI; Hancock/Houghton, MI; International Falls, MN; Muskegon, MI; Paducah, KY; Sault Ste. Marie, MI; Tupelo, MS).
*
Order 2009-10-8 (October 16, 2009) selecting SkyWest Airlines, Inc., d/b/a United Express, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Hancock/Houghton and Muskegon, Michigan, Paducah, Kentucky, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
*
Order 2012-1-24 (January 26, 2012) tentatively re-selecting SkyWest Airlines, Inc. to provide Essential Air Service (EAS) with subsidy rates as follows: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, $1,733,576; Hancock/Houghton, Michigan, $934,156; Muskegon, Michigan, $1,576,067; and Paducah, Kentucky, $1,710,775.
*
Order 2012-2-2 (February 1, 2012) makes final the selection of SkyWest Airlines, Inc., to provide Essential Air Service at Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Hancock/Houghton, Michigan; and Paducah, Kentucky (at Muskegon, the selection of SkyWest was not finalized at this time).
*
Order 2013-10-8 (October 21, 2013) reselecting Delta Air Lines, Inc., to provide Essential Air Service (EAS) at Pellston and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; and SkyWest Airlines, at Paducah, Kentucky; Hancock/Houghton, and Muskegon, Michigan; and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Order also tentatively reselects American Airlines, at Watertown, New York. ''Hancock/Houghton, Michigan: Docket 2009-0302; Effective Period: January 1, 2014, through January 31, 2016; Service: Fourteen (14) nonstop round trips per week to
Chicago O'Hare
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...
(ORD); Aircraft Type:
CRJ-200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...
; Annual Subsidy: $690,976.''
External links
*
Royale Air ServiceAerial image as of April 1998from
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
''
The National Map
''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...
''
* at Michigan Airport Directory
*
{{authority control
Airports in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Transportation in Houghton County, Michigan
Buildings and structures in Houghton County, Michigan
Essential Air Service