DeWitt Township - Kevin Carey sat in the almost vacant Capital City Airport on Thursday chatting with Lansing residents Steve and Marcia Kwiecinski.

Steve was waiting with his wife Marcia, who was waiting to board a flight to Rochester, N.Y.

“It is like a ghost town in here,” Steve Kwiecinski observed.

Meanwhile Carey, who was waiting to board a plane taking him home to Madison, Wis., said he’s pleased with recent airport security upgrades.

“I think the skies are pretty safe now,” he said.

Such statements could be attributed to state and federal leaders who, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, have mandated increased airport security.

President Bush requested Tuesday that governors mobilize National Guard units at federal expense. Gov. John Engler, along with state leaders from Florida, Ohio, Minnesota and Kentucky, were among the first to respond to the request.

Engler did so Thursday, deploying at least 100 National Guard personnel to commercial airports.

Robert Kolt, Capital City Airport spokesman, said the added security will be a welcome change.

“We’ve got a lot of manpower security needs,” he said. “We’ve gotten new security directives almost every day. We’re not surprised by this.”

Since the attacks, Kolt said security at the airport, located at 4100 Capital City Blvd., has increased not only behind the scenes, but visibly too for the peace-of-mind of passengers:

l No traffic is allowed in front of the main terminal.

l Concrete barriers are blocking the area.

l Short-term parking has been eliminated.

l Officers are patrolling the main terminal areas, and airlines also have increased security checks.

And while the extra measures may be a hassle to some, most passengers aren’t complaining about the added time or security checks, Kolt said.

“People seem to want more security and welcome it,” he said. “They not only want it to be visible, they want it everywhere. Business is about as normal as it can be.”

Lansing residents Andy Merchant and Ben Myers were two passengers glad to hear Engler had decided to deploy National Guard troops to airports.

The two were waiting to board a plane to New York where they’ll watch a Yankees baseball game.

“We came here the night before the attacks, but it’s like I told him, it’s safer to fly now than it was before,” Myers said.

Kwiecinski said he will feel safer with the added National Guard security.

“We are planning to go to Las Vegas next week,” he said. “It’s not changing our plans.”

Michigan National Guard Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone, who was a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia, said the guard was excited to receive this most recent mission because this is the type of task they trained for.

“Performing security is a fundamental duty of all soldiers,” he said. “The task ahead of us is to translate those basic skills into something we can use.”

Stone said officials have been molding a plan since Engler’s announcement. The total number of guards and selection of airports has not been determined.

It could be four to seven days until the guards appear in airports, where they are expected to remain for four to six months.

“We’re not going to send our people out there without specialized details,” Stone said. “We have contingency plans for hurricanes and floods. This is a new mission. We’re ready for those, but this is a new atmosphere.”

Shawn Byron can be reached at byronsha@msu.edu.

Jamie Gumbrecht can be reached at gumbrec1@msu.edu.