Airline, schedule, and destination changes are all in store for the airport
IRONWOOD -- Gogebic-Iron County Airport will be seeing some big changes within the next few months, and airport officials have mixed emotions for what they could bring.
A direct flight to Minneapolis is what the airport has always wanted. And they're finally going to get it.
The Frontier flight now flies to Rhinelander, Wisconsin continuing on to Milwaukee. The new flight comes with a change in airlines, from Frontier to Great Lakes.
"Travelers have been excited about the Minneapolis destination. Minneapolis is a larger airport than Milwaukee. It has more airlines; more destinations out of Minneapolis than Milwaukee had. And in the past, people have been asking, why aren't we flying to Minneapolis," says Airport Chairman Joe Bonovetz.
Even though airport officials are excited about the route change to Minneapolis, they're concerned about the time change of the first flight.
As of now, the airport has two departing flights, one leaving at 5:15 a.m., then again at 4:30 p.m.
When Great Lakes begins flying out of the airport, they'll still have two flights, but the first one won't leave until 9:45 a.m.
"We are concerned because the preliminary schedule has the 9:45 a.m. flight, and we wish to maintain the 5:15 a.m. flight, because when Frontier came here and had the early schedule, our enplanement went up over 400 percent, and we do have people who want to fly out here. The schedule is very important," Bonovetz adds.
Great Lakes Airlines say they are considering adjusting the schedule in the future.
The airline change is set for March 11.