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Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport
Airport in Michigan, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (IATA: MQT, ICAO: KSAW, FAA LID: SAW), previously named Sawyer International Airport, is a county-owned, public-use airport in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. It is located 17 nautical miles (20 mi; 31 km) south of the central business district of the city of Marquette.[1] 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.[3]
Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner | Marquette County | ||||||||||
Serves | Marquette, Michigan | ||||||||||
Location | Gwinn, Michigan | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 1,204 ft / 367 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 46°21′13″N 087°23′43″W | ||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||
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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 (IATA: MQT, ICAO: KMQT, FAA LID: MQT), 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[1] and MQT by the IATA[4] (which assigned SAW to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey).[5] The airport's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) identifier is KSAW.[6]
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[7][8] by providing funds earmarked for immediate spending to sustain operational expenses, generate loans, tax credits and paycheck protection to small businesses,[9] 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,[10][11][12][13][14] 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,[15] 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.[16]