Pellston Regional Airport , also known as Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County, is a public airport located northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Pellston Pellston is a village in Emmet County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 822 at the 2010 census. The village is the home of Pellston Regional Airport. The village lies on the boundary between Maple River and McKinley townships ...

, a village in Emmet County, Michigan, United States. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2017–2021, in which it is

categorized Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a ...

as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. Mainly a general aviation airport, Pellston Regional Airport also functions as the primary commercial airport for the sparsely populated northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, owing to its location halfway between the region's primary cities, Petoskey and Cheboygan, as well as its close proximity to the tourist centers of

Mackinaw City Mackinaw City ( ) is a village in Emmet and Cheboygan counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 846 at the 2010 census, the population increases during summertime, including an influx of tourists and seasonal workers who serve ...

and

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( ; french: Île Mackinac; oj, Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; otw, Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac an ...

. One commercial airline, SkyWest (doing business as Delta Connection), currently serves Pellston Regional with three departures and three arrivals daily. The northern lodge-themed passenger terminal building was constructed in 2003 and designed by architect Paul W. Powers. The new passenger terminal building replaced a smaller terminal building that was demolished. Wireless internet service is available throughout the terminal at no charge to travelers. The airport has commercial service on Delta Air Lines with regional jets operated by

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. The ...

. SkyWest generated controversy when it announced plans to operate Essential Air Service (EAS) flights to Pellston as tag flights from Detroit continuing on to Escanaba, another EAS community, and then ending in Minneapolis. The airline cited pilot shortages for the need to condense their flights to the two cities. Both communities objected and threatened to call their U.S. Senators, and SkyWest ended the tag services after a month of flying them. However, more plans for tag flights are expected to take effect in December 2022, operating from Detroit to Pellston to Alpena and then back to Detroit. The airport received $1,000,000 in 2020 as part of the federal CARES act to maintain operations and receive upgrades during the covid-19 pandemic.

Facilities and aircraft

Pellston Regional Airport covers an area of and contains two asphalt paved runways: 14/32 measures and 5/23 is . For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2022, the airport has about 12,000 aircraft operations, or about 32 per day. This includes 84% general aviation, 15% commercial, and <1% military. For the same time period, there are 32 aircraft based on the field: 23 single-engine and 5 multi-engine airplanes as well as 4

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...

. The airport operates an FBO offering fuel, a courtesy shuttle, conference rooms, crew lounges, snooze rooms, and showers.

Airline and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Terminal

The current terminal serves as baggage claim, check-in, ticketing, TSA checkpoint and gates. Owing to the airport being very small in size and the number of flights, only two gates are necessary and both are located in the terminal. Since 2009, travel services and offices have been placed at the end of baggage claim. On a normal day, three or four people operate this airport. One airline representative manages check-in, ticketing and works as the gate agent. One is a TSA Senior Agent. The others are ground crew and baggage services. Delta/SkyWest currently has two aircraft in use; both are 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets 100/200 series (CRJ-200).

Accidents & Incidents

* On April 23, 1970, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, operated by North Central Airlines, destined for

Sault Ste. Marie Airport Sault Ste. Marie Airport is an international airport located west-southwest of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada at the far eastern end of Lake Superior and the beginning of the St. Mary's River. History The Canadian government o ...

, was hijacked. One hijacker demanded to be taken to Detroit. The hijacker was taken down; there were no fatalities. *On May 9, 1970,

UAW The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American Labor unions in the United States, labor union that represents workers in the Un ...

President Walter Reuther, his wife May, architect

Oscar Stonorov Oscar Gregory Stonorov (December 2, 1905 – May 9, 1970) was a modernist architect and architectural writer, historian and archivist who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1929. His first name is often spelled "Oskar". Early life Sto ...

, Reuther's bodyguard William Wolfman, the pilot and co-pilot were killed when their chartered Lear-Jet crashed in flames at 9:33 p.m. Michigan time. The plane, arriving from Detroit in rain and fog, was on final approach to the Pellston airstrip near the union's recreational and educational facility at Black Lake. The

Learjet 23 The Learjet 23 (originally Lear Jet 23) is an American six-to-eight-seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twinjet, high-speed business jet manufactured by Learjet. Introduced in 1964, it was Learjet's first model and created a new market f ...

, operated by Executive Jet Aviation and registered as N434EJ, crashed into trees and caught fire short of the runway. An investigation concluded that illusions produced by the lack of visual cues during a circling approach over unlighted terrain at night to a runway not equipped with approach lights or other visual approach aids caused the crash. The aircraft was written off; there were six fatalities. * On May 13, 1978, a brand new

Piper Cheyenne The Piper PA-42 Cheyenne is a turboprop aircraft built by Piper Aircraft. The PA-42 Cheyenne is a larger development of the earlier PA-31T Cheyennes I and II (which are, in turn, turboprop developments of the PA-31 Navajo). History Che ...

with less than twenty hours had a

CFIT In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually ) is an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of water or an obstacle. In a typical CFIT scenario, ...

two miles from the departure end of Runway 32 after failing to land at Boyne Falls airport. The NTSB investigation concluded the pilot attempted to land below published minimums for the ILS approach. The weather was extremely foggy at the time, with less than visibility and ceiling, while the approach called for a ceiling and visibility. A contributing factor was the finding that the middle marker for Runway 32 was not functioning at the time, possibly contributing to the disorientation of the pilot and his location relative to the airfield. The aircraft was destroyed; there were three fatalities. *On January 21, 1999, a Beechcraft Baron impacted terrain while on an ILS instrument approach to the airport. The probable cause was found to be the pilot's failure to maintain altitude and terrain clearance on approach and flight into known icing conditions, as a Saab 340 operated by Mesaba Airlines had earlier reported moderate icing below 3,000 feet while on approach to Pellston. Contributing factors include the pilot's intoxication, the icing conditions, known equipment deficiencies in the aircraft, and trees on the impacted hill. *On February 10, 2007, a

Piper Cherokee Six The Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six is a series of single-engine, fixed landing gear, light aircraft manufactured in the United States by Piper Aircraft between 1965 and 2007.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 63. Werner & Werner Cor ...

crashed northeast of the airport. The aircraft lost engine power and came to rest in a wooded area. All four aboard survived. * On January 15, 2013, a Cessna 208B Cargomaster, operated by

Martinaire Martinaire Aviation, L.L.C. is an American cargo airline based on the grounds of Addison Airport in Addison, Texas, USA, near Dallas.Docket DOT-OST-2011-0133
from the U.S. Department of Transportation: *
Ninety-Day Notice (July 15, 2011)
Mesaba Aviation, Inc., and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., each a certificated carrier, hereby give notice of intent to discontinue the current service provided at Pellston, MI, effective October 13, 2011. Mesaba and/or Pinnacle provide service to the community, operating on a fee-for-service basis as “Delta Connection” carriers. Delta has notified Mesaba and Pinnacle that Delta can no longer economically continue this service. Delta is in the process of retiring all turboprop and numerous small jet aircraft operated by Mesaba and Pinnacle. All of the Saab 340 aircraft operated by Mesaba for Delta Connection will be retired by year end. Delta has notified Mesaba and Pinnacle that high fuel costs and low passenger demand further necessitate the filing of this notice. We intend to submit a bid to provide continued service under the EAS program at subsidy rates that will enable us to cover the cost of the operation and a reasonable return on investment. *
Order 2012-4-10 (April 6, 2012)
selecting Delta Air Lines, Inc., to provide essential air service (EAS) at Chisholm/Hibbing, Minnesota, and Escanaba, Pellston, and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for $2,517,770, $2,833,558, $1,055,361, and $1,676,136, respectively. At Pellston, the service is to consist of 12 nonstop round trips per week to Detroit in the off-peak, and 14 per week in the peak period. At Sault Ste. Marie, the service will be 13 round trips per week year round. At the remaining two communities, service is to consist of 12 nonstop round trips per week year round. All service is to be operated with 50-seat CRJ-200 aircraft. *
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. ''Pellston, Michigan: Docket 2011-0133; Effective Period: November 1, 2013, through January 31, 2016; Service: Off peak: Twelve (12) nonstop round trips per week to Detroit (DTW); Peak: Fourteen (14) nonstop round trips per week to Detroit (DTW) with CRJ-200 Aircraft; Annual Subsidy: $1,077,413.''

External links

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Lakeshore Express Aviation
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{{authority control Airports in Michigan Essential Air Service Transportation in Emmet County, Michigan Buildings and structures in Emmet County, Michigan