“As a former Air Force Base, we have a mammoth runway that at one time was 12,000 feet for civilian use,” Beseau begins. “It was reduced down to 7200 feet but it is still a runway that would handle Air Force One and smaller type aircraft as well.” GROWING AIRPORT OPERATIONS Chippewa County International Airport is a commercial airport that also sees significant General Aviation and corporate traffic land at its doorstep. “We are served by a Delta connection airline, Sky West Airlines, that operates the route for Delta Airlines in that they are a Delt connection operator seven days a week,” Beseau offers. “We go to both Minneapolis and Detroit once a day round trip and this year we will be working up to 50,000 total passengers.” For a community that is roughly 30,000, these passenger numbers are very significant, Beseau notes. She does add that if the area is to include their Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario partners, “We are up to about 100,000 or more folks in the demographic area that we are serving here.” “There is also the business traveler,” Beseau adds.“ It is a great setup because this is a beautiful area and we have lots of islands, lots of summer cottages and there are several folks that can fly charter to get to some of these locations.” “We also get many large charters throughout different times of the year such as hockey teams during the NCAA championships.” “So we are busy on both sides, both with the Commercial Service and the charter activity,” Beseau summarizes. LANDING AT A NEW TERMINAL WITH EASE To welcome passengers flying into Chippewa County International, the airport has recently built a new general aviation terminal that also caters to major freight operators including FedEx and UPS that frequently utilize the facility with larger aircraft. Beseau highlights that the primary motivation for building the terminal came down to streamlining the aviation experience for its passengers and to the aesthetics of the facilities they would be greeted by. “We knew we could do better. Make the terminal more user friendly, provide better amenities so we worked for many years with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to see what type of funding would be available to the airport,” Beseau describes. “I asked the FAA if it would ever consider funding a general aviation terminal and they said that all of our airside improvements need to be completed and in great shape [see this happen].” 119 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 01 CHIPPEWA COUNTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
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