Cherry Capital Airport
Cherry Capital Airport
Cherry Capital Airport (IATA: TVC, ICAO: KTVC, FAA LID: TVC) is a commercial and general aviation airport located in Traverse City, Michigan, United States. The airport is located two nautical miles (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) southeast of the central business district of Traverse City. The airport is categorized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. Cherry Capital Airport is the third-busiest airport in Michigan, after those of Detroit and Grand Rapids. It is the largest and busiest airport in Northern Michigan, with 700,699 total passengers in 2023. The airport is owned and operated by the Northwest Regional Airport Authority, which was created in 2022. Previously, the airport was jointly owned and operated by Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. The airport is home to U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, which has been operational since 1946.
Location
44.741°N, 85.582°O · 190 m s. n. m. (624 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 5 Official publication
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
UNICOM
Frequencies from the official publication: FAA NASR, AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
History
Cherry Capital Airport was opened in 1936 as Traverse City Airport, replacing Ransom Field. The airport was moved onto the Coast Guard Air Station, which at the time was a naval air station that had opened in 1946. The airport opened with four runways, all but one of which have been replaced. Remnants of the former runways exist to this day, with some being left abandoned and privately owned.
In October 2004, Cherry Capital opened a new terminal on the south side of the east–west runway, demolishing the old one on the north side. This project also reconfigured the runways, marking the removal of the third diagonal runway. This development has seen an increase in various carriers offering seasonal service and destinations.
The airport experiences severe snowfall in the winter and has put many resources into snow and ice control. The airport was the ninth to implement the advanced security measures suggested after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
In 2013 and 2017, the airport extended the east–west runway to accommodate more flights to more locations, possibly to upgrade to an international airport for Air Canada Express flights.
In October 2017, a Costco store opened next to the airport entrance on a property leased to the warehouse chain for 60 years.
The airport saw upgrades to its parking lot and TSA checkpoint in 2022. This allowed for an additional 424 parking spots and a third TSA checkpoint line that can accommodate modern screening technology. The airport also added a hybrid USO location to assist soldiers traveling through.
Also in 2022, the Northwest Regional Airport Authority was established to operate the airport, after years of operation by Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.
The airport received $14 million in 2020 as part of the federal CARES act to help it maintain operations and complete upgrades during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airport set passenger records in 2021 and 2022 despite a drop in the number of flights passing through, making it the No. 3 airport in Michigan.
The airport was host to campaign events held by gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon during the 2022 midterm elections.
In February 2023, Cherry Capital Airport was selected as a recipient of a $5 million grant under the Airport Terminals Program, a component of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, to replace its passenger jetways to modernize the boarding process.
In 2025, Cherry Capital Airport experienced a 19% growth in passenger numbers, recording 935,816 total passengers that year. In response, in April 2026, Cherry Capital Airport broke ground on a $120 million, multi year expansion of the existing terminal. Dubbed “Concourse B”, the expansion will add four new gates to the terminal, located approximately 600 feet to the east of the current concourse. The new concourse is expected to open sometime in 2028.
What flies here
From our own logbook: 117 aircraft documented between 2008 and 2025.
Types seen here
Airlines with documented aircraft
Busiest routes from here
A count of our own aircraft profiles, year by year, from the public United States flight records: it reflects what we have documented, not the airport’s total traffic.
Airlines operating here · 9
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: User:my name · CC BY-SA 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 16, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 16). Cherry Capital Airport (TVC). Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC
MLA
“Cherry Capital Airport (TVC).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 16 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Cherry Capital Airport (TVC).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Cherry Capital Airport (TVC). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC (Accessed: 19 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_tvc,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Cherry Capital Airport (TVC)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-16},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC}},
urldate = {2026-10-19},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-19}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/TVC |title=Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-16 |access-date=2026-10-19 |language=en}}