Spring break is fast approaching. For most local schools – including both Traverse City Area Public Schools and Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools – the break officially begins after a full day of school on Thursday, March 26. And despite Coronavirus fears that might prevent some from traveling, there are lots of spring break plans underway, both at home and in warmer climes.  

Cherry Capital Airport
Kevin Klein, director of Cherry Capital Airport (TVC), says the airport – already in the midst of a big year – is preparing for a huge amount of outgoing traffic at the end of the month. Klein notes that most outgoing flights across all available carriers and destinations are near 100 percent capacity, even with several carriers flying busier “spring break schedules” and utilizing larger-capacity aircraft than is typical for Traverse City flights.

So far this year, Klein says TVC has seen traveler increases of 53-55 percent over where they were a year ago. He credits that boost largely to the presence of Allegiant Airlines, which added service to and from Traverse City in October. Allegiant’s current flights – which include nonstop routes from TVC to three Florida destinations, as well as to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona – have significantly expanded TVC’s offerings and will lead to potentially record-breaking spring break numbers for the airport.

Beyond spring break, TVC is looking ahead to spring and summer when many of its other nonstop routes will resume service. At the moment, in addition to the Allegiant Florida and Arizona routes, TVC has daily flights to Chicago (via American Airlines and United Airlines) and Detroit (via Delta Airlines). Below is the schedule for TVC’s other nonstop flights to come back into rotation:

American: Dallas on May 7, followed by New York LaGuardia, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. on June 27.
Delta: Minneapolis on May 10, followed by Atlanta and New York LaGuardia on June 27.
United: Newark, Washington Dulles, and Denver, all on June 4.

Allegiant’s Punta Gorda route is a winter seasonal flight, which Klein says will cease service sometime this spring. He expects it to be back in the fall.

Notably absent from TVC’s schedule – both for spring break and for the foreseeable future – is Elite Airways, which initially added a nonstop flight from TVC to Sarasota, Florida in March 2019. Klein says that Allegiant’s arrival and focus on Florida travel markets ultimately led Elite to cease the Sarasota route, rather than compete with another carrier. However, Klein also notes that Elite recently partnered with the Milwaukee-based Midwest Express Airlines and is looking at adding flights from TVC to destinations such as Chicago, Milwaukee, and Columbus this summer.

Spring Break in Traverse City
While outgoing flights are TVC’s bread and butter at this time of year, Klein tells The Ticker that incoming spring break travel has increased in recent years, thanks in part to efforts from Traverse City Tourism (TCT) to position the area as a four-season destination. Klein estimates that TVC’s incoming flights for the spring break timeframe are at currently at about 80 percent capacity.

Trevor Tkach, president and CEO of TCT, says his organization is running various digital promos through MLive to promote Traverse City as a spring break destination. These promos, along with a spring break-themed landing page on TraverseCity.com, tout late March as an optimal time to experience the area’s key attractions without the crowds or peak season pricing of the summertime. Tkach notes that many area hotels run specials and promos during spring break to attract more visitors.

Caroline Rizzo, public relations manager for Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, says the property’s spring break discount is 20 percent off its prevailing room rate and is available from March 27 to April 12. Rizzo predicts a considerably larger spring break crowd at the Resort this year than last, in part due to the March 13 launch of the new Den entertainment center.

“We’re seeing a big increase in families taking advantage of our spring break special and what the Resort has to offer,” Rizzo says. “Last year we had 186 non-local reservations. We are already up almost 25 percent and there is still time for families to make reservations.”

For Traverse City residents staying local, the State Theatre will be offering its customary weeklong schedule of free spring break movies. Now in its 12th year, the spring break program typically sees the State showing a mix of recent releases and old favorites, with different themes for each day.

Meg Weichman, artistic director for the Traverse City Film Festival, says the State is “still in the process of confirming the lineup [of films] with distributors,” but notes that there will be more movies included this year than ever before. In the past, the State has run seven full days of free programming, from Friday to Thursday. This year’s run will add two extra days to the schedule, set to begin on Friday, March 27 and conclude on Saturday, April 4.