IRON MOUNTAIN — A total of 15,235 passengers boarded commercial flights at Ford Airport in 2021 — well below the record of 22,980 in 2019 but comfortably above the threshold of 10,000 needed to be a primary airport under the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding categories.

“Even with the pandemic, we’re still doing well,” Dickinson County Controller Brian Bousley told the county board Monday.

SkyWest Airlines, based in St. George, Utah, has served as the Essential Air Service carrier at the Dickinson County airport since December 2012, operating under a contract that provides a current annual federal subsidy of up to $3,868,146.

Ford Airport saw a 50% decline in boardings in 2020 but retained its primary status. Under the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program, primary airports are entitled to a minimum of $1 million annually for capital needs.

The county, meanwhile, has already qualified for a pair of $1 million airport grants under other federal legislation — the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act signed in the final weeks of the Trump administration and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed Nov. 15 by President Joe Biden.

This is in addition to a 2020 CARES Act appropriation of $1.085 million, which was used to pay off $690,000 in hangar construction borrowing and help meet other airport costs.

The county hopes to use some of its remaining grant funds for a $1.28 million hangar project awarded last summer to Gundlach Champion of Iron Mountain. When completed, the county will lease the hangar to a commercial interest while also having office space for its own use.

If the project is ineligible under the grant schedule, the county could consider building another new hangar, as there is significant demand, Bousley said. “We would have the funds to do it,” he said.

The county is also mulling uses for its $4.9 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. Under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s final guidelines, almost any capital project in the county would be eligible, Bousley said.

Excluded uses include a “rainy day” fund, debt service or employee pension support, he noted. Local governments have until the end of 2024 to make spending commitments and the end of 2026 to use the pandemic aid included in the economic stimulus bill Biden signed in March.

Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-3500, ext. 226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.