KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport will conduct a full-scale emergency preparedness exercise at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The exercise will involve local agencies and organizations that are part of the airport’s emergency plan. The intent is to evaluate and enhance preparedness of the airport’s and mutual aid partners emergency operations.

The airport will close briefly, at the beginning of the drill, to allow for a realistic emergency response to the exercise site. There will be no impact to normal scheduled operations. The actual exercise is taking place on an area of the airfield unaffected by flight operations. The community should be aware that smoke may be visible and emergency response vehicles and personnel will be operating around the airport on Thursday morning during the exercise.

“This exercise is a requirement of the Federal Aviation Administration and allows our team to assess and address any gaps in our emergency plan with that of our community mutual aid partners,” said Airport Deputy Director for Operations, Anton Bjorkman. “We want to thank all our mutual aid partners for their participation in this year’s exercise. Community mutual aid support is a key ingredient to the success of this exercise and will be important as we evaluate our emergency plan.”