27 AirportImprovement.com September 2026 OPERATIONS MKG Electrification shouldn’t mean costly infrastructure upgrades or operational compromise. By sharing power, data, and technical synergies, EcoGate removes bottlenecks, accelerates electrification, and advances gate economics — at contact gates, remote stands, and beyond. Learn more on itwgse.com/ecogate EcoGate Stop upgrading infrastructure Start connecting your equipment With the crew settled, Efting turned to a question that would organize everything that followed: What to fix first? Ultimately, he used a military decision framework called the “O.O.D.A. Loop,” which is short for observe, orient, decide, then act. “My first year I was in the observe phase,” he says. His year of observation revealed two distinct categories of problems. One group was infrastructure—taxiway replacements, runway repairs, the failing terminal roof and other facility shortcomings. Efting saw these projects as critical to operations, but also knew the public might not see the value in them. The other category included issues the community actually noticed and cared about: the air show, the restaurant and, above all, airline service. Because securing funds for a taxpayer-supported airport depends on public opinion, Efting made a deliberate decision to prioritize the visible, public-facing projects. He needed to change perception. “That took time,” he shares. Everything downstream—grants and funding for unglamorous infrastructure—flowed from winning the minds of cautious locals. New Airline Partner Nothing shapes public perception of a small airport more than its passenger service. “At any commercial airport, your existence is defined by your air carriers,” Efting says. “And in our case, air carrier—singular, not plural.” MKG’s recent history with air service had been rough. SkyWest Airlines previously flew 50-seat regional jets twice a day to ORD, but stopped in fall 2022, citing the industrywide pilot shortage. The next carrier serving MKG, Southern Airways Express, took over the same routes, but its single-engine Grand Caravans struggled in early and late winter when icy conditions are common on the airfield. The airport’s location on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan also played a role because single-engine airplanes carrying passengers over open water must be able to glide back to land in the event of a midflight malfunction. That meant Southern Airways flights in and out of MKG could not cut straight across Lake Michigan. They had to fly around it. Extensive cancellations and delays piled up, and so did passenger frustration, Efting explains. Southern Airways’ last flights at MKG were in late October 2024. That opened the door for Denver Air Connection, the Part 121 arm of Denver-based Key Lime Air. It brought jet service back to MKG in November 2024, roughly two years into Efting’s tenure. The improvement was immediate and measurable. Denver Air’s on-time reliability ran about 5% higher than competitors, which Efting notes can add up to about 100 more
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