Summer Air Traffic Up at Sawyer

More than half of the U.P.’s airline traffic uses Sawyer Airport.

And more people used sawyer this summer than have over the last couple of years.

More than 37,000 people flew into or out of Sawyer in the 3 months of June through August.

That’s the most since 2007.

It’s 20% more passengers than the airport had two summers ago, and 12% more than last year.

The hope is: this might justify more flights next year.

Kaspari says this bodes well for the airport to have more passengers for the entire year than the 105,000-plus that it had last year.

Sawyer became a 100% jet airport earlier this year.

But Kaspari thinks there are two reasons for the jump.

The other is the return of flights to an airport Sawyer used to serve.

Kaspari says people have really responded to the phasing out of turboprop planes as well as resumption of service to Minneapolis.

Sawyer also had three daily flights to Detroit in July and August, which are normally the two busiest months of the year for air travel.

There are two Detroit flights the rest of the year.