After some early-year turbulence, passengers counts at Cherry Capital Airport for the first half of the year caught up and exceeded 2025’s record travel numbers.

The monthly operations report for June reviewed by the Northwest Regional Airport Authority board this week showed passenger counts through June totaled 385,354 travelers in and out of TVC for the first half of the year. That puts the airport 1.6% ahead of last year’s record travel pace that totaled 935,816, the third-highest total among Michigan airports.

Travel numbers were lagging behind last year’s record totals for much of the year. Winter storms that generated flight cancellations in northern Michigan and elsewhere were a factor, along with other flight interruptions spurred by the extended federal government shutdown from mid-February through late April.

But activity picked up this summer, airport CEO Kevin Klein says. Passengers movements reached 111,389 in June – a 3.2% increase from 2025 putting the airport slightly ahead of last year’s numbers.

Official passenger counts for July won’t be available until late August. But Klein says it’s been a busy month with the “through-put” totals from the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) outbound checkpoint reaching 81,000 earlier this week. That would put the monthly total at more than 160,000 travelers for the month.

“We’re pretty much on track with last year’s numbers,” Klein says.

Participants in the Traverse City Horse Shows and students attending summer classes at Interlochen Center for the Arts are major factors in July air travel at TVC, according to Klein.

“Those two things really drive our July traffic,” Klein says.

Klein expects travel numbers to remain strong through the summer based on advanced bookings for August.

“August looks pretty solid for us right now,” Klein says.