Traverse City seeks two seats on regional airport authority board

Traverse City is seeking a bigger voice over Cherry Capital Airport, asking for two seats on the Northwest Regional Airport Authority board as city leaders argue that the airport’s impacts fall directly on city streets, neighborhoods and infrastructure.

The City Commission is expected to adopt a resolution on May 18 to formalize the request. If approved, the move would put Traverse City back in the governance conversation at an airport that sits entirely within the city limits but has been directed for decades by a regional structure built around Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.

The authority is a nine-member board, with six appointments made by the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners and three by the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners. Members serve three-year terms. The city withdrew from airport operations effective July 21, 1988, and county records show Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties approved the airport’s move to independent regional authority status in December 2020.

That history makes the current request more than a procedural tweak. City officials are pressing for formal representation as the airport’s footprint grows, and as decisions about land use, traffic flow, public safety demands and future costs become harder to separate from city government. A request for two seats would not just give Traverse City a place at the table. It would give the city leverage over how the airport grows, what it costs and how those costs are shared.

Cherry Capital Airport is already operating on a scale far beyond the terminal’s original design. The airport reported 787,114 passengers in 2024, up 12.3% from 700,699 in 2023. It serves six airlines and 20 nonstop destinations, and local reporting has described it as the third-busiest airport in Michigan and the largest in Northern Michigan. One business report said the current terminal was designed for about 350,000 annual passengers, while another cited a $120 million expansion effort to keep up with demand.

The governance fight is also unfolding alongside zoning work. Airport materials say Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties approved a request in April 2024 to define and determine the airport hazard area, and county records show a Cherry Capital Airport Joint Zoning Board was being formed under the Michigan Airport Zoning Act. That adds another layer to Traverse City’s push: the airport is no longer just a transportation asset, but a land-use and public-safety issue with consequences that extend well beyond the runway.

For airport officials, the process is expected to be lengthy, complex and costly. For Traverse City, the question is simpler: who should decide how a major public institution inside city limits expands, operates and pays for the burdens it creates?