Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport

Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport, previously named Sawyer International Airport, is a county-owned, public-use airport in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. It is located 17 nmi south of the central business district of the city of Marquette. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.

This commercial and general aviation airport is located near Gwinn, on a portion of the former K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, which closed in September 1995. The airport opened for passenger service in September 1999, serving Marquette and the surrounding area. It replaced the former Marquette County Airport, which closed the same year.

Although many U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA), this airport is assigned SAW by the FAA and MQT by the IATA (which assigned SAW to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey). The airport's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) identifier is KSAW.

The airport received $18 million from the US Department of Transportation in 2020 as part of the CARES Act, which was intended to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing funds earmarked for immediate spending to  sustain operational expenses, generate loans, tax credits and paycheck protection to small businesses, along with additional protections and benefits to individuals. The airport instead opted to use those funds for airport rebranding, consulting services, art installations, hangar renovations and fire suppression system upgrades, terminal expansion, demolition of multiple buildings not currently part of airport operations and other initiatives not related to COVID-19 impacts,    which will continue years after the end of the pandemic.

In 2022, the airport distributed a survey asking for public input in a rebranding effort. Despite public effort to include local native and renowned aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson's name in the rebranding, the Marquette County Board of Commissioners instead voted to rename the airport to Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport on March 21, 2023, as part of the $20 million renovation and re-imaging initiatives.

Aircraft statistics
Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport covers an area of 2100 acre. It has a single asphalt/concrete runway, numbered 1 and 19, 9,072 by, originally re-designed in 1959 to accommodate B-52 bombers and KC-135 tankers. This airport is capable of handling aircraft as large as a Boeing 747-8 or a 777-200.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 17,889 aircraft operations, an average of 49 per day: 56% general aviation, 35% air taxi, 1% scheduled commercial service and 8% military. In November 2023, there were 41 aircraft based at this airport: 36 single-engine, 4 multi-engine and 1 jet.

Facilities
There is an industrial park, the Telkite Technology Park, adjacent to the airport, with 1000 acre of land and 1500000 sqft of space in a Michigan Renaissance Zone, which exempts the tenant or owner from the majority of state and local taxes.

The airport is home to the Marquette County Aviation Wall of Honor, which features many influential pilots and engineers.

In 2022, the airport received a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to repair hangars.

Upgrade plans
The airport is undergoing significant renovation in 2023. $20 million in funds are being allocated toward the project which includes a new fire suppression system in an aircraft hangar, expansion of the terminal building, and new taxiway asphalt. The air traffic control tower will be upgraded in 2024, new aircraft parking spaces will be added, and there will be security upgrades to allow for larger commercial aircraft.

Terminal upgrades will include an upgraded entrance and facility expansion as well as new art installations. The FAA will fund part of the project and will include money from the federal CARES Act from the Covid-19 pandemic. The airport is collecting final funds in order to begin the project.

The airport has renovated a hangar to support airline operations.

A number of unusable buildings will be torn down as part of the project.

Accidents and incidents

 * On January 5, 2015, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk veered off the runway at Sawyer while attempting a takeoff. The plane was substantially damaged, but the pilot was uninjured.
 * On September 3, 2019, a small plane impacted trees while attempting an emergency landing near Sawyer. After an engine failure, the aircraft overshot a field it was aiming for and landed on a nearby road before veering into trees. The aircraft was towed to a hangar at the airport for investigation. The pilot and his son were uninjured.