Airport type Public 10/28 5,501 Elevation 189 m | Elevation AMSL 621 ft / 189 m Code MBL Phone +1 231-723-4351 | |
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Owner Manistee County-Blacker Airport Authority Serves Manistee, Michigan / Ludington, Michigan Website www.ManisteeAirport.com Address 2323 Airport Rd, Manistee, MI 49660, USA Similar Jackpine Web Design a, Little River Casino Resort, Mason County Clerk, Orchard Beach Aviation Inc, SS Badger Profiles | ||
Manistee County Blacker Airport (IATA: MBL, ICAO: KMBL, FAA LID: MBL) is a public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Manistee, a city in Manistee County, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the Manistee County Blacker Airport Authority and is mostly used for general aviation.
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Until March 2012 Frontier Airlines provided service to Milwaukee (MKE), subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. On March 15, 2012, a bid to provide Manistee County Blacker Airport with service to and from Chicago Midway International Airport was approved by the USDOT. On May 25, 2012, the Chicago Department of Aviation announced that the route will be flown by Public Charters, Inc.
As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 2,087 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 2,735 in 2009, and 3,413 in 2010. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a local general aviation facility.
History
On Saturday, April 1, 1961, the Manistee News-Advocate reported "North Central's inaugural Flight 914", piloted by Captain Leslie C. Raatz. The aircraft was a Convair 340. Though the article does not explicitly say so, this was the first commercial flight to Manistee.
Great Lakes Airlines decided not to bid for another two-year service contract to serve as the main airline. Instead, two other airlines bid and Frontier Airlines won. On September 20, 2011, Frontier announced that it would end its service on March 8, 2012. Frontier cut the route along with others to discontinue its use of smaller non-efficient planes, including the Embraer 135 that serves the route from Milwaukee to Manistee.
In May 2012, Public Charters Inc. began scheduled nonstop service, operated by Aerodynamics Inc. (ADI), from Chicago Midway International Airport to and from Manistee. Initially, it provided service with the Embraer-145, a 50-seat regional jet. Later, service will transition to a 30-seat Embraer-120 turbo-prop aircraft. Public Charters temporarily suspended service in October 2012 when Aerodynamics announced that it would no longer operate the flights. Public Charters' flights at Manistee are now operated by Corporate Flight Management (CFM). As of November 2012, Public Charters offers four non-stop flights per week in each direction.
Facilities and aircraft
Manistee County Blacker Airport covers an area of 290 acres (117 ha) at an elevation of 621 feet (189 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 10/28 is 5,501 by 100 feet (1,677 x 30 m) and 1/19 is 2,721 by 75 feet (829 x 23 m).
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2014, the airport had 6,865 aircraft operations, an average of 19 per day: 73% general aviation, 18% scheduled commercial, 9% air taxi and less than 1% military. In March 2017, there were 11 aircraft based at this airport: 9 single-engine and 2 multi-engine.
Airlines and destinations
The following airline offers scheduled passenger service: