Southwest Michigan Regional Airport

Southwest Michigan Regional Airport is Important to Everyone in this Region.

Key Facts about our Airport

• The airport contributes more than $14-million dollars to the local economy, according to the latest economic impact report conducted by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
• 50 people are directly employed at the airport by area businesses for flight operations.
• Local employers such as UPS, Lakeland Regional Health System, Cook Nuclear Plant, Modar Inc, Lowe's, Best Buy, Modern Plastics, Fiskars Inc, IPC Print Services, The Herald-Palladium Newspaper, Kalin Construction, and many others use the airport routinely.
• Annually, more than 400 companies from all over the U.S. and Canada fly their aircraft into Southwest Michigan Regional Airport.  The airport is an essential link to global markets for the 60 privately owned aircraft housed there and several corporate aircraft including the fleet of Whirlpool Corporation.
• The 28.9-million dollar planned airport runway safety improvements will bring our airport up to Federal Aviation Administration standards by 2015.  The FAA is paying for 95-percent of the costs of that project; the state of Michigan and our airport are splitting the remaining 5-percent.  Without the millage, our communities could lose more than $28-million dollars in grants!

 Significant Community Benefits

• SW Michigan Regional Airport is the only all-weather airport in the tri-county region of Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties.
• Emergency medical transportation uses the airport for patient transfer and critical re-fueling.
• The airport serves as a coordinating location for emergency and rescue personnel engaged in Homeland Security.
• The airport enables us to bring national and international business prospects directly to our region.
• Corporate aircraft have convenient access to vital markets and suppliers across the nation and the world -- a critical service as companies expand into global markets.
• The airport gives us a competitive edge in the site selection process against other regions and other states for professional service companies and industrial locations.
• Just like police and fire protection, the airport is a part of public infrastructure that supports the growth of the community.
• The airport is an important part of the multi-modal transportation network that gives our community a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining jobs.

 We've got an airport -- We need to keep it!  What happens if it closes?

• If the airport closes -- the tax revenue earned on airport fuel sales would go to help other communities to build better roads, support stronger education, and provide more public services.
• If the airport closes -- our area becomes little more than a bedroom community, relying on other outlying communities for medical services, shopping, education, housing and recreation.  We would undergo increasing difficulty maintaining the services we all enjoy now.
• If the airport closes -- companies would be unable to move their people and products as quickly, efficiently, affordably, and effectively...making them less able to compete in today's global economy.
• If the airport closes -- as the job base shrinks, population declines, housing depreciates, health care drops to minimum levels, out buying power erodes, the quality of education drops off, and public services and roadways deteriorate.  The ripple effect of fewer jobs continues to expand, and the quality of life for each and every one of us fades away.

The fate of our community lies in the hands of the voters.  Every businessman and woman in this region needs to make sure that his or her employees know the critical nature of the vote.  Additionally, the business community needs to lead the way to a successful vote on November 7th.  Will your company be a leader in this effort? 

This Member Spotlight was created on 10/03/2006.