Cherry Capital 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 ...

located southeast of the central business district of

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States. It is owned by Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties..

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 ...

. effective November 10, 2016. It is included in the

(FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

History

Cherry Capital Airport was opened in 1936 as Traverse City Airport, replacing Ransom Field. The airport was moved onto the

Coast Guard Air Station A Coast Guard Air Station (abbreviated as CGAS or AirSta) provides aviation support for the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard operates approximately 210 aircraft from 24 Coast Guard Air Stations in the United States. Fixed-wing aircraf ...

, which had opened in 1946. The airport opened with four runways, all but one of which have been replaced. Remnants of the former runways exist to this day, with some being left abandoned and privately owned. In the fall of 2004, Cherry Capital opened a new terminal on the south side of the east-west runway, demolishing the old one on the north side. This project also reconfigured the runways, marking the removal of the third diagonal runway. Since then, Cherry Capital Airport has continued to grow with various carriers adding seasonal service and destinations. Cherry Capital Airport was the recipient of the 2003–04, 2004–05, and 2005–06 ''Balchen/Post Awards'' for outstanding achievement in snow and ice control in the small commercial service airport category. Soon, the airport will implement the first

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...

access systems in the country. The airport is the ninth to implement the advanced security measures suggested after the September 11, 2001, attacks. This terminal is able to comply better with security regulations and supports a greater number of flights and passengers. In 2013 and 2017, the airport extended the east-west runway to accommodate more flights to more locations, possibly to upgrade to an international airport for Air Canada Express flights. In October 2017, a

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (Trade name, doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only Big-box store, big-box retail stores (warehouse c ...

store opened next to the airport entrance on a property leased to the warehouse chain for 60 years. The airport saw upgrades to its parking lot and TSA checkpoint in 2022. This allowed for an additional 424 parking spots and a third TSA checkpoint line that can accommodate modern screening technology. The airport also added a hybrid USO location to assist soldiers traveling through. The airport received $14 million in 2020 as part of the federal CARES act to help it maintain operations and complete upgrades during the

covid 19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The airport set passenger records in 2021 and 2022 despite a drop in the number of flights passing through, making it the No 3 airport in Michigan. The airport was host to campaign events held by gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon during the 2022 midterm elections.

Facilities and aircraft

The Airport has one concourse with six gates. Cherry Capital 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 § Vert ...

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 concrete, as ...

s: 10/28 is and 18/36 is . For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 101,106 aircraft operations, an average of 277 per day: 75%

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 ...

, 11% scheduled commercial, 8%

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 6%

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 ...

. At that time, there were 125 aircraft based at this airport: 98 single-engine and 15 multi-engine

airplanes An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...

, 5

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, and 7 jet. In February 2009, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine ranked Cherry Capital Airport second in their list of the top ten "rip-off" airports in the

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 territorie ...

, citing an average cost per mile to travelers departing TVC of 41 cents. The airport has one

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

, AvFlight.

Ground transportation

The

Bay Area Transportation Authority Bay Area Transit Authority (BATA; ) a public transit agency that serves Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse and Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau counties in the US state of Michigan. History BATA was formed February 1, 1985, out ...

(BATA) serves the airport terminal and links to downtown Traverse City as well as other locations in the surrounding area.

Airlines and destinations

Top domestic destinations

Accidents and incidents

* Northwest Airlink Flight 4712 (operated by

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 ...

) was a

Bombardier CRJ200 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) ...

from Minneapolis-St. Paul, which overran the runway while landing at TVC during a snowstorm on April 12, 2007. In its Report to Congress, the National Transportation Safety Board wrote that "the aircraft received substantial damage, but the 52 people on board were not injured. The Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilots' decision to land at TVC without performing a landing distance assessment, which was required by company policy. This poor decision-making likely reflected the effects of fatigue produced by a long, demanding duty day, and, for the captain, the duties associated with performing check airman functions. Contributing to the accident were the

pilot flight and duty time regulations that permitted the pilots' long, demanding duty day and the TVC operations supervisor's use of ambiguous and unspecific radio phraseology in providing runway braking information. Four safety recommendations were issued to the FAA addressing timely post-accident drug testing, training on landing distance assessment performance, ground operations personnel communications, and criteria for runway closures in snow and ice conditions. The NTSB adopted the report on June 10, 2008."

References

External links

* * fro
Michigan Bureau of Aeronautics
* *
Aviation photos: Traverse City - Cherry Capital (Municipal) (TVC / KTVC)
from

Airliners.net Airliners.net is an aviation website that includes an extensive photo database of aircraft and airports, as well as a forum catering to aviation enthusiasts. Created by Johan Lundgren, Jr., the site originated in 1996 as ''Pictures of Modern Air ...

Aerial image as of 27 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 pro ...

'' * * {{Northern Michigan Airports in Michigan Buildings and structures in Grand Traverse County, Michigan Transportation in Grand Traverse County, Michigan Traverse City, Michigan