Mackinac Island Airport is a 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 surface ...

Mackinac County, Michigan Mackinac County ( ) is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 10,834. The county seat is St. Ignace. Formerly known as Michilimackinac County, in 1818 it was one of the first cou ...

, United States. It is located northwest of downtown

Mackinac Island, Michigan Mackinac Island ( ) is a city in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a permanent population of 583. The population numbers in the tens of thousands from May 1st to October 31st due to an influx o ...

in the center of

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 ...

. The airport is owned by Mackinac Island State Park Commission. 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 m ...

(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 as a basic

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 ...

facility. Mackinac Island Airport started as a grass strip in 1934. It got a paved runway in 1963 and a terminal building in 1969. A $4.6 million project in 2011-2012 moved the runway 65 feet east to a flatter location.Mackinac Island Airport Project Celebrated With Rededication
''Mackinac Island Town Crier'', James Dau, August 4, 2012

Facilities and aircraft

Mackinac Island Airport covers an area of 125

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (51 ha) 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 § Vert ...

of 739 feet (225 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

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 concrete, as ...

designated 8/26 with a concrete surface measuring 3,501 by 75 feet (1,067 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2018, the airport had 11,100 aircraft operations, with an average of 30 per day: 32%

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) an ...

and 68%

. In this period, there was only 1 aircraft reported based at the airport, a multi-engine aircraft. * The airport is staffed September through May from 7:30AM until 5:30PM, and June through August from 8AM until 5PM. * There is no fuel available at Mackinac Island Airport. The closest FBOs with fuel are in

St. Ignace St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered auto ...

, Cheboygan, and Pellston. * No camping is allowed on Mackinac Island, but nearby Bois Blanc island has an airstrip and allows camping at the field. * Pilot Controlled Lighting is on 122.8, and UNICOM is on 122.7. * The airport has MIRL lights and PAPI lights on each direction.

Island transit

* The airport is accessible by road from Annex Road, and is close to (but not directly accessible from) M-185, Michigan's only highway that prohibits vehicles. One special note is that no motorized vehicles with the exception of city emergency vehicles (police, fire and ambulance), city service vehicles and snowmobiles in winter are allowed on Mackinac Island. Travel on the island is accomplished on foot, bicycle, horse or horse-drawn carriage. * Walking: The airport is about 1.6 miles by paved road from Market Street and the downtown area shops and restaurants. * Taxi: The Mackinac Island Taxi Service (owned and operated by Carriage Tours) runs horse-drawn taxi carriages 24 hours a day from May to October, with limited hours from November to April. * Bicycles: There are no bicycle rentals available at the airport, but there are several bicycle rental businesses downtown. Some private bikes can be stored in the racks outside the airport terminal.

Airlines and destinations

Incidents and accidents

* On July 13, 2010, a privately owned

Beechcraft Baron 58 The Beechcraft Baron is a light twin-engined piston aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft was introduced in 1961. A low-wing monoplane developed from the Travel Air, it remains in production. Design and development The d ...

, registered as N3081N, en route from Mackinac Island Airport to

Chicago Executive Airport Chicago Executive Airport , formerly Palwaukee Municipal Airport, is a public airport 18 miles (33 km) northwest of Chicago, in the village of Wheeling in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the City of Prospect Heights a ...

crashed shortly after takeoff from

Mackinac County Airport Mackinac County Airport is a county-owned public-use airport in Mackinac County, Michigan, United States. It is located northwest of the central business district of St. Ignace. It is the closest airport to Mackinac Island Airport with a refue ...

where it had stopped to refuel. Four

Israeli-American , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = , population = 110,000–150,000 , popplace = New York metropolitan area, Los Angeles metropolitan area, Miami metropolitan area, and other large metropolitan are ...

citizens were killed, and another was seriously injured. * On December 3, 2011, a Great Lakes Air Piper PA-32-260 registered as N33315 crashed en route from St. Ignace, killing both passengers. * In July and August 2013, a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

and ERCO Ercoupe experienced weather issues on the runway, causing substantial damage to both aircraft.

References

External links

Mackinac Island Airport official Facebook page

Mackinac Island Airport webpage

Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau

Great Lakes Air Inc.
* at

Michigan DOT The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate ...

Airport Directory
Aerial image as of April 1998
from

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 prov ...

'' * {{authority control Airports in Michigan Mackinac Island Transportation in Mackinac County, Michigan Buildings and structures in Mackinac County, Michigan Historic district contributing properties in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Mackinac County, Michigan Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Airports on the National Register of Historic Places Airports in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan