Carlton County–Cloquet Airport is located about three miles southwest of the town of Cloquet in northeastern Minnesota. The airport was established in 1934, with Carlton County assuming ownership in 1968. The airport has two paved runways—18/36 and 7/25—and 47 based aircraft.
Fixed-based operator Venture North Aviation offers flight training, pilot services, fuel sales, and aircraft rental, maintenance, charter, and consulting. Most of the airport’s operations involve flight instruction; other uses include local recreational flying, area businesses, and government flights.
Demand for hangar space is strong, resulting in an extensive waiting list for space, says airport manager Quinten Anderson. That demand may be partially alleviated thanks to news the airport received in September 2020. The Cloquet Airport was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) for construction of a new hangar to serve as a base for an aeronautics workforce training center. The hangar and training center are estimated to create nearly 40 jobs and spur $3.5 million in private investment, according to a Department of Commerce press release. The grant will be matched by approximately $1 million from the State of Minnesota and approximately $70,000 in local funds.
The airport is located in a designated Opportunity Zone created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 with the goal of spurring economic development in economically distressed communities nationwide. Anderson explains that the airport had originally intended to build a hangar for Life Link’s operations, but since the organization is a nonprofit, the project wouldn’t have been eligible for EDA funding. The EDA convinced the airport to apply for a grant for a hangar/office facility that would support business instead.
“There might be future maintenance needs and ways we can expand the airport on the business side. That will be our future target—trying to get businesses out here, to create jobs for the area,” Anderson says.
Planned construction is for a box hangar with a two-level office on one side. The space will also allow Venture North Aviation to hire more flight instructors to train more pilots, in anticipation of the pilot shortage many economic forecasts have predicted. Recent increases in the costs of building materials resulted in higher-than-expected bids, Anderson says, but MnDOT Aeronautics increased its funding amount to help cover some of that, which will allow the project to move forward. The grant allows five years for the funds to be spent.
Increasingly, the EDA has been focusing on incorporating resiliency into infrastructure, Anderson says. The Cloquet area suffered from severe storms and flooding in 2009 and again in 2015. In the press release announcing the news, EDA Assistant Secretary Dana Gartzke noted that the project would “help Carlton become more resilient in the face of future natural disasters and strengthen the region’s aviation industry and workforce.”
Anderson credits the Carlton County Economic Development Authority, Arrowhead Regional Development Commission, Venture North, and consultant RS&H with contributing to the successful proposal.
