ISLE AIRPORT ASSOCIATION
The Isle Airport is the only airport on Mille Lacs Lake. The airport presently has 150 or so takeoffs and landings per year. People come from around the country and Minnesota to enjoy the Isle and Mille Lacs Lake area. They come to visit friends and family, to shop, or go to local restaurants. Some fly in to stay at their cabins or vacation homes, or to enjoy the many events and parks around Mille Lacs Lake and surrounding lakes.
Isle Airport has a courtesy car for pilots who fly in. It can be used for the day to visit the Mille Lacs area. There are also bicycles available at the airport if that mode of transportation is desired.
Some folks have flown in with their own folding bicycles to use to see the sites or ride trails throughout the area. The Isle Airport brings revenue to the area and to restaurants, shops and resorts. Stop by the Isle Airport anytime to check out the facility. If you fly in, be sure to sign our guest book at the Pilot Shack.
Isle Airport was activated in July of 1956. The land for the airport was donated to the City of Isle by the state of Minnesota with the stipulation that it would remain an airport and that the land would revert back to the state if the Isle Airport were to cease operation.
After activation the Isle Airport bustled with activity, with multiple airplanes being based at the airport. The airplane owners were allowed to build hangars on airport property and some of those hangars still exist today.
The airport has been a sod strip since its inception with some blacktop in the taxiway areas in front of the hangars.
When the airport became less active, the City of Isle leased the airport property to the Isle Airport Association (formerly Isle flying Club) a 501c(6) non-profit organization. This group has been running and maintaining the airport for many years. Costs of running the Isle Airport are largely funded by the annual Fly In Pancake Breakfast during the Isle Days Celebration, and also by private donations. Under the arrangement with the Isle Airport Association, the airport became a private airport and no longer was public use without permission being granted.
In recent years, the Isle City Council was approached by the Isle Airport Association along with other interested parties to move forward to once again have the airport be Public Use. With this in mind the council did establish an Airport Commission in April of 2019 to re-establish public status. The Airport Commission has been working with the state of Minnesota and the City Council to return the airport to its original standards for a Public Status. That process is ongoing at this time and would be a big asset to the local economy.
