AIR TIME

Cherry Capital Airport’s Kevin Klein

Looks Toward A Massive Summer Season summertime seasonal staff, which is common this time of year. The car rental companies are still struggling. But overall I’m hoping we’re on the upward swing overall. I’m hoping this year is a big improvement over last year’s troubles.

6 > Good. And parking? How crazy was it during spring break with everyone leaving their cars behind?

Our parking has held up very well so far. Spring break we had about 100 spots open every day out of a total of 1,235. We increased by 440 spots last year, which has served us well.

7 > And I know another headache during the pandemic and into last year was the lack of rental cars. Any news on that front?

We actually just met with them today! I’m positive there will be cars. The change in that industry is you used to get a relatively new rental car with maybe a couple thousand miles on it. Today you might likely get one with 40-50 thousand miles on them. The companies are buying leases that are ending to backfill their fleets.

8 > And the Uber situation? Are we still hunting and hoping for more drivers?

The Uber and shuttle situation is a tad better, but not much. We have taxis and BATA has some solutions. COVID drove a lot of the Uber drivers to DoorDash and we just haven’t seen them convert back. But it’s become very easy and lucrative here. You just sign up and start driving!

9 > What’s the latest on the big expansion? I know it’s starting in phases.

Yes, we’ve kicked off our terminal ramp expansion, going 130 feet east and west. It just started and is going very well. We look to get the west side set by Memorial Day and hopefully finishing the east side by mid-summer. It’s going to help with current capacity challenges and it’s really needed.

10 > I think people are curious about the general aviation side of the airport. So much goes on beyond the airlines we all see or experience.

Yes, general aviation includes any aircraft from the smallest single engine to corporate aviation jets, and includes training, charters, the air ambulance, sightseeing tours and also freight operators like UPS and FedEx. Out of about 100,000 flight operations here at the airport, the airlines only represent about 11,000. So it’s very important to us.

11 > I also just read about United really investing in the future of electric aircraft. Is that real or coming anytime soon?

It’s honestly right around the corner. I really do believe that. It will start with single engines like the college operates. It will change the environmental impact, the noise, pollution, everything. You’ll see very high demand eventually, but we will need to adapt for infrastructure and charging first. One thing they’re looking at starting with would be, for example, using them to pick people up in Gaylord and bringing them to Traverse City for their flight from here.

12 > What else?

We’ll be visiting Allegiant soon to discuss everything, including their purchase of 737 Max aircraft and when those will go online, any new cities in their network, and also marketing. They do a lot of advertising around national parks, and we want to make sure Sleeping Bear Dunes is right up there in their marketing.

13 > Any chance we could ever get a Las Vegas flight via Allegiant?

I hope so! Everybody here wants Vegas, and we’d also love to get Fort Lauderdale, which is close for the horse shows population in Florida.