Sawyer International Airport rebranding first step in new economic development

K.I. SAWYER, Mich. (WLUC) - Sawyer International Airport is looking forward to big changes--one of which is a new name and improvements.

In a few months, the airport will be called Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport. Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch says it is the first part of improving services and customer experience at the airport. This part of the airport’s $20 million renovation plan.

“The first phase of the airport rebranding is completed with the name change,” Erbisch said. “Next will be the development of the logo and some of the other aspects of it, then that will lead to the next phase of how we regionalize what the terminal might look inside.”

Erbisch says you should expect changes with the terminal.

“We are hoping to do a terminal expansion in several years to maybe bring a more regional feel to the airport,” Erbisch said. “When someone walks off the airplane they are going to go, ‘this is what the region means to our community.’ This is a part of that effort as well from the rebranding, so that is going to be an important step.”

InvestUP CEO Marty Fittante says his organization is working to help address the lack of flights out of the airport.

“We know that it is a hard path forward to find real solutions, in large part because those solutions are out of our control, but we are going to fight to try and find a way to get more reliable and more robust air service here,” Fittante said.

Fittante says while recognizing the rebrand is important, it is only the first step.

“At the end of the day, the name is only the brand and so it is those other pieces that really are critical at this point,” Fittante said.

Erbisch says the new logo will be revealed in the next few months and the next steps will follow after.

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