30
OPERATIONS      
September 2026      AirportImprovement.com
MKG 
bid proposal through a pilots’ group, and her visions for it went 
far beyond standard food service. She sources roughly 90% of 
her ingredients from Michigan—locally roasted coffee, locally 
butchered meats, made-from-scratch jams and freshly baked 
preservative-free breads. 
French refers to the restaurant more as a 
community hub than a business. “Everybody 
I’m talking to [is] so excited after 10 years to 
have a restaurant back,” French says. And 
she loves hearing the stories customers tell 
when they return, including one woman who 
met her husband at the airport 50 years ago. 
That connection with customers is the point 
for French. “That’s where family starts—
around a dinner table,” she says. “And if we can bring that here, 
then our families can get bigger by the community getting to 
know each other.” 
To foster that spirit, she has added shared seating at long 
tables, calling it “the best way to get a community to grow.”
French plans to add outdoor seating on the tarmac side and 
is also cooking up other ways to bring airfield action closer 
to customers. One idea is live video feeds of the flightline on 
televisions inside the restaurant. “If we can do little imprints on 
the kids at a younger age, there’s a good chance that we can 
keep the aviation flowing and going,” she remarks. 
Bringing Back the Air Show
Few things announced the airport’s return more clearly and 
publicly than the sound of historic warbirds, military aircraft and 
fireworks during Wings Over Muskegon. 
The Muskegon Air Fair had run every year from the early 
1980s until 2006, and its absence after that really stuck with 
the community. When Taig was getting to know people in town, 
many would immediately ask whether he would bring back the 
popular event. “They had been without their beloved air show for 
17 years,” he commiserates. 
As it happens, Taig had an ace up his sleeve. After spending 
two decades on the planning team for the Thunder Over Michigan 
air shows, he knew that leaders at the Michigan Flight Museum 
wanted to bring their show to new markets. Planning to bring it 
to MKG began during Taig’s tenure, and the first show (branded 
as Wings Over Muskegon) took to the skies in 2023, with Efting 
carrying the effort across the finish line. Not surprisingly, it was 
an immediate hit. The show skipped a year during the full-length 
replacement of Taxiway A in 2025, but has since returned to the 
community’s calendar—a recurring, highly visible reminder that 
the airport is worth paying attention to once again.
Free Parking
Efting’s idea to stop charging for parking seemed counterintuitive 
to some people, but he had two solid reasons behind it. The 
first was cost. Continuing with paid parking would have required 
the airport to maintain gate arms and point-of-sale equipment, 
and also keep employees available around the clock to deal with 
associated problems. Efting did the math and discovered these 
overhead costs ate into the revenue that parking generated and 
left only slim margins. 
Marketing was his other reason. He saw free parking as an 
investment in attracting travelers rather than a lost revenue 
opportunity. 
His strategy was rooted in how he wanted the airport to make 
passengers feel. When passengers returned from an expensive 
trip, maybe one with flight delays, Efting didn’t want to hit them 
with a $50 to $200 bill for parking. “It’s like salt in the wound,” 
he explains. Removing that friction, he reasons, reduces the 
total cost of travel in a price-sensitive regional market and gives 
people one more reason to choose MKG.
Free parking also plays directly against the pull of larger 
airports within easy driving distance. As Taig points out, the 
convenience is tangible: “It’s a two-minute walk from the parking 
lot to our TSA checkpoint, and you’re right there at the gate.”
Betting on General Aviation
Despite all the positive attention about scheduled service from 
Denver Air, Efting has spent recent months making a case that 
runs counter to how small commercial airports usually think.
Work that moves 
communities 
forward.
We’ve spent decades helping airports and 
communities build something worth being 
proud of. If that’s the career you’re after, 
let’s talk.
(877) CS-SOLVE
www.cscos.com
Now
Hiring
LEE ANN FRENCH

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