Courtesy Photo Alpena County Regional Airport Manager Steve Smigelski shows off the Air Carrier Airport of the Year Award the airport received on Feb. 22.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Regional Airport in Alpena was recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Air Carrier Airport of the Year Award for its sustained excellence and partnership toward aviation progress in Michigan.

The award was announced on Feb. 22 at the Michigan Airport Conference held in Lansing.

The Michigan Aeronautics Commission and Michigan Department of Transportation announced the award winners for achievements in promoting and improving aviation.

The airport, which is owned by Alpena County, was commended for its rebuilding of a runway critical to the airport’s operational efficiency and business continuity, which will meet the needs well into the future.

“Congratulations to this year’s awards winners and thank you for your contributions to improving Michigan aviation,” said Mike Trout, MAC director and MDOT Office of Aeronautics administrator. “Their outstanding work has not gone unnoticed to the MAC, MDOT and the aviation community.”

Airport manager Steve Smigelski said the airport’s large project that featured a reconstruction of its primary runway and the relationships it has with contractors and other partners factored into the airport receiving the award.

Last year, the airport renovated the runway to the tune of $50 million. The federal government paid the bulk of the cost, but Alpena County did use 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 unexpected hiccups during the construction, which delayed the opening of the runway for a couple of weeks, lengthening the time it took for air-service provider to resume flights to and from Alpena.

SkyWest, the airport’s commercial air-service provider, refused to use a secondary runway during construction because of safety concerns, believing there wasn’t enough runway available to land the jets.

The runway finally reopened in August and SkyWest flights resumed shortly afterward.

Smigelski said everyone involved in airport operations should be proud to receive the award because any of the airports in the state could have earned it.

“This is an important award because only one airport in Michigan gets it,” he said. “It is humbling to receive and I really wasn’t expecting it.”

Smigelski went on to say that the award could bolster the amount of passengers who have never experienced the service the airport provides. He said the press the award is receiving could motivate travelers to consider giving the airport a try.

“I hope so,” Smigelski said. “That would be nice.”