News File Photo The Alpena County Regional Airport is seen in August 2023. The airport is on track to meet its goal of 10,000 boardings and earn $1 million from the federal government.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Regional Airport needs more than 500 boardings before the end of the year to reach its goal of 10,000 boardings and earn $1 million from the federal government.

An enplanement is a paying customer who uses the airport for travel.

According to Airport Director Steve Smigelski, the threshold of 10,000 boardings set by the Federal Aviation Administration should be reached before the end of November.

The money the airport receives can be used for necessary equipment and upgrades, Smigelski said.

Last year, the airport failed to reach the 10,000 boarding plateau because the main runway was closed for a complete reconstruction. At the time, the FAA told Smigelski that if the goal was met in 2024, a waiver could be granted and the airport would still receive its $1 million due to the circumstances.

On Friday, Smigelski said that ended up not being the case.

“The outgoing Congress has not granted any exemptions,” he said. “We still received about $250,000, but we lost $750,000. »

Using the money the airport had to meet the goal of 10,000 boardings for many years, the airport ordered two new snow plows to keep the runway and taxiways clean during the looming winter conditions. operations. The airport is also accelerating its project to build T-hangars for rent.

Smigelski said when the new hangars are completed next year, 25 spaces will be available for rental. He added that there is strong demand from private aircraft owners who need a place to store their aircraft.

“There is a shortage of hangar space across the state and we should have no problem leasing all of our space,” Smigelski said. “I’ve already received 30 letters of intent, so I think we’ll have no problem filling them all out.”

The Alpena Airport and Combat Readiness Training Center is hosting a special grand opening event today at 1 p.m. that will include an F-16 landing on the resurfaced runway.

The two-year, $60 million federally funded construction project, which included a total of $40 million in Department of Defense funds and $20 million in Federal Aviation funds Administration, included a multi-agency partnership. The project repaired the entire length of the main runway that supports military and commercial aircraft operations.

The project also moved an aircraft arresting system owned by the Michigan Air National Guard outside of the FAA runway safety zone and installed a new cable lifting and lowering arresting system to ensure that the CRTC can provide support for fighter aircraft operations while ensuring the safety of commercial aircraft and general aviation aircraft.

The project forced the interruption of SkyWest Airlines’ local commercial air service for three months, preventing the airport from reaching its goal of 10,000 boardings.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or [email protected]. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.