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ALPENA — The Alpena County Regional Airport recently filed for a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration, requesting the airport receive a $1 million federal subsidy despite failing to record 10,000 paying passengers this year.

The airport closed its main runway from May until late July for renovations, but SkyWest Airlines, the only commercial airline operating out of the airport, didn’t resume flights until August.

That downtime caused the airport to fall short of the 10,000 enplanements it must receive to earn the federal subsidy.

Airport Manager Steve Smigelski said Monday he is confident the waiver request will be granted because of Alpena’s history of consistently eclipsing the 10,000-enplanement mark and because of the reasons it fell short this year.

Smigelski said he forwarded the last three years of enplanement data to the FAA to show that the airport’s numbers have been strong and to emphasize that the goal would have been reached if not for the renovation project.

He said it appears the FAA will use the same numbers from 2022, which would ensure the airport receives the funds from the federal Airport Improvement Program.

The airport can use the $1 million for projects and to help fill equipment needs, Smigelski said.

“I don’t anticipate there will be a problem,” Smigelski said. “They have done it for other airports, and, if the runway is closed because of safety issues, they’re not going to penalize you for that.”

The total cost of the runway renovation project was about $50 million, but the federal government paid the bulk of the cost. Alpena County used a large portion of the nearly $18 million the airport received through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to cover its share.

The project suffered several delays, which extended the time the runway needed to be closed.

The runway improvements are projected to extend the life of the runway by 25 years, ensuring continued civilian and military use of the facility.

Last year, the airport reported just under 13,000 enplanements, but, through the end of October this year, there were only 5,579.