TRAVERSE CITY — Good air service. It’s one of the strongest tools a growing community can have in its arsenal for economic development.
For the Greater Grand Traverse Region, that tool is Cherry Capital Airport or TVC.
“I can say that today, 53% of all of our travelers are local travelers. Now, a majority of them are local travelers. And that’s typical at most airports where you have about 50, 50, combination,” said Cherry Capital Airport CEO, Kevin Klein.
That was not always the case for Cherry Capital Airport. When Kevin Klein started working there in 2002, he’s been CEO since 20-11, TVC was only serving about 200,000 passengers every year, two thirds of them tourists.
“We had five destinations. In the majority of the year, we only had two destinations being Detroit, Chicago. But in summertime we picked up, Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Then we picked up, New York LaGuardia,” said Klein.
TVC now has 20 non-stop destinations with airlines like Allegiant, Sun country, Avelo, Jet Blue, along with staple carriers United and American, joining the growing number of offerings.
Now 53% of the airport’s users are locals because they have more destinations, especially to the sunshine.
“We’re seeing the local traveler now instead of traveling, maybe like once every five years, or even I’ll call them the Road Warriors that would travel two or three times a year. We’re seeing those travelers locally travel 6 to 10 times a year because they are an opportunity to connect to the world,” said Klein.
Over and above leisure destinations, business travel is playing a bigger role. Having connectivity to diverse destinations or an easy connection can mean a world of difference when attracting businesses and ultimately jobs the area. Klein said Traverse Connect, the area’s leading business advocate, has been an essential partner in doing that.
“It’s a huge, driver of current business success. It’s also the way we attract businesses. It’s the way we attract the expansion of companies as well as those new companies that are thinking about relocation or expansion,” said Traverse Connect President and CEO, Warren Call.
Traverse Connect provides something known as pledge funding for air carriers to either establish a presence at TVC or expand their service. CEO Warren Call said they have never had to use it, “They hope to make a certain amount of revenue. What we’re basically doing is we’re guaranteeing that they will make that revenue. So, we hope that they’ll make it through normal means of high utilization of the new of the new route.”
These efforts have resulted in a big transition for Cherry Capital, going from a small community airport to a small hub.
In 2024, TVC had a record 787,114 passengers. Klein said the current terminal was originally designed to handle only 350,000 per year. They need more space and they’re hoping the grand traverse county commission will green light a bonding program to add a $130 million concourse, going from five to eight jet bridges with potential to add a ninth.
“The opportunity to partner with Grand Traverse County and work with their full faith and credit would save the project, interest costs of about $16.2 million over the 30-year bond,” said Klein.
That’s a much more attractive road for them to take rather a federal loan program or other higher interest funding programs. Klein said the county plan would not have an impact on your wallet, “No local taxpayer dollars are involved at the airport. We just use that rating that helps keep the costs lower. The airports pay all the bonds from the revenue.”
The Grand Traverse County Commission is expected to take action on TVC’s bonding request at their next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 3.