Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County | |||||||||||||||
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Emmet County | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | The City of Pellston | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 720 ft / 219 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 45°34′15″N 84°47′48″W / 45.57083°N 84.79667°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www.PellstonAirport.org | ||||||||||||||
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Pellston Regional Airport (IATA: PLN, ICAO: KPLN, FAA LID: PLN), also known as Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County, is a public airport located one mile (1.6 km) northwest of the central business district of Pellston, a village in Emmet County, Michigan, United States.[2] It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.[4]
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 proximity to the tourist centers of Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. One commercial airline, SkyWest (doing business as Delta Connection), currently serves Pellston Regional with three departures and three arrivals daily.[5]
The 35,000-square-foot (3,252 m2) 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 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 were expected to take effect in December 2022, operating from Detroit to Pellston to Alpena and then back to Detroit.[6][7]
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.[8]
- ^ Passenger Boarding FAA.gov
- ^ a b FAA Airport Form 5010 for PLN PDF, effective Apr 27, 2017.
- ^ Michigan Department of Transportation. Measures of Michigan Air Carrier Demand Archived 2013-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Michigan.gov, Retrieved April 27, 2017
- ^ "List of NPIAS Airports" (PDF). FAA.gov. Federal Aviation Administration. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "Pellston Regional Airport".
- ^ "Pellston Regional Airport to return to regular flight schedules in early October". Petoskey News. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
- ^ "Pellston Regional Airport adding tag flight in December". Up North Live. 3 November 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
- ^ "Feds drop financial fuel to Michigan airports". Up North Live. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 2022-11-17.