KSAW
Sawyer International Airport
VFR
-
Name
Sawyer International Airport
-
ICAO / IATA / GPS
KSAW / MQT / KSAW
- Type
- Restriction
- Region
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Timezone
6:44 pm (EST)
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Municipality
Gwinn
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Coordinates
46° 21′ 12″ N 87° 23′ 43″ E
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Elevation
1’221 ft (372 m MSL)
About Sawyer International Airport
Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (IATA: MQT, ICAO: KSAW, FAA LID: SAW), previously named Sawyer International Airport, is a county-owned, public-use airport in Marquette County, Michigan, United States. It is located 17 nautical miles (20 mi; 31 km) south of the central business district of the city of Marquette. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility.
This commercial and general aviation airport is located near Gwinn, on a portion of the former K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, which closed in September 1995. The airport opened for passenger service in September 1999, serving Marquette and the surrounding area. It replaced the former Marquette County Airport (IATA: MQT, ICAO: KMQT, FAA LID: MQT), which closed the same year.
Although many U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Air Transport Association (IATA), this airport is assigned SAW by the FAA and MQT by the IATA (which assigned SAW to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey). The airport's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) identifier is KSAW.
The airport received $18 million from the US Department of Transportation in 2020 as part of the CARES Act, which was intended to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing funds earmarked for immediate spending to sustain operational expenses, generate loans, tax credits and paycheck protection to small businesses, along with additional protections and benefits to individuals. The airport instead opted to use those funds for airport rebranding, consulting services, art installations, hangar renovations and fire suppression system upgrades, terminal expansion, demolition of multiple buildings not currently part of airport operations and other initiatives not related to COVID-19 impacts, which will continue years after the end of the pandemic.