Michigan Airport Bars Could Start Serving Alcohol 24 Hours A Day And Let Travelers Carry Drinks Through The Terminal

There are two bills advancing in the Michigan legislature to make alcohol more available in airports. One would make airports the only place in the state where alcohol could legally be offered 24 hours a day. The other would allow alcohol in airports to be taken ‘to go’ instead of having to drink inside the airport bar or restaurant.

• Under current Michigan law, there’s no sale, giving away or furnishing of alcohol in the state between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m..
  
• On-premises consumption is separately prohibited between 2:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.
  
• A licensed bar or restaurant cannot remain open to ordinary customers between 2:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. without a specific-purpose permit.
  
• However On-premises sales can continue until 4 a.m. on January 1, with consumption until 4:30 a.m.

The passenger terminal airport license for alcohol sold for consumption on the premises would allow the sale, giving away and furnishing of alcohol at any time on any day under the proposed legislatio, provided that the governing body of the publicly-owned airport approves it.

It’s badly drafted, though, because it allows sales but doesn’t actually authorize consumption after 2:30 a.m. or customer occupancy after 2:30 a.m. and those are separate rules under Michigan law. A court might interpret the bill’s “notwithstanding” language as overriding the conflicting laws, but that’s not certain and the bill could make it legal to sell alcohol at 4 a.m. but not drink it.

Nonetheless, the law would legalize:

• Ordering a beer, mimosa, or Bloody Mary at 6 a.m. before a flight
  
• Complimentary drink in an airport lounge at 6:30 a.m.
  
• Buying a drink during an overnight delay at 3 a.m
  
• Allowing a non-ticketed person to drink at a landside bar in the temrinal at 4 a.m.
  
• Airport employee drinking after a shift at 3 a.m.

Here are things that would still be illegal:

• Buying a souvenir bottle of wine at 6 a.m. before a flight
  
• Buying alcohol at a hotel bar or liquor store at 6 a.m.
  
• Buying alcohol at a private terminal or general aviation airport during the statutory overnight period

Oddly, proponents argue that retail sales of souvenir bottles on Michigan wine before an early flight are a reason to pass the bill, but it’s not clear at all that the bill’s language would allow this because it amends a ‘section 507 license’ to allow overnight sales but a sealed package sale is a different license.

As of June 18, 2026, HB 5518 has received a hearing at the House Regulatory Reform Committee hearing but hasn’t been reported out or voted on. The committee’s chair Rep. Joseph Aragona, though, is also its sponsor and they have substantial control over whether the bill advances. And Aragona’s party controls the house. Given that it’s narrow and subject to local airport government approval, and airport operators are actively supporting it, it seems to have a decent chance of advancement.

The largest public support for this legislation appears to come from airports. The bill’s main sponsor does appear to have ties to the alcohol industry and was named a “Defender of Michigan Beer” by the Michigan Brewers Guild earlier this year.

Separately, SB 728 allowing drinks to be taken out of airport bars and restaurants, advanced in the Democratic-controlled Senate on June 18, suggesting some reception across party lines to loosen airport alcohol restrictions.

Still, these are probably low priority bills in an election year and it’s possible to frame attacks on “twenty four hour airport alcohol” rather than “accommodating early international travelers.”

But I just don’t see airport drinks at 6 a.m. as more dangerous than 6 p.m. At an airport, time just works differently with passengers changing time zones, working irregular schedules, and beginning travel days at 3 a.m.

If the concern is overconsumption, there is research arguing that adding additional hours of alcohol sales increases harms from alcohol, but it wasn’t studying (1) early morning hours or (2) airports. It’s about extending bars and night club hours later into the night.

The U.K. government actually studied the airport issue and found that anecdotal evidence of alcohol causing passenger incidents wasn’t sufficient to warrant restrictions at airports. Besides, people having a drink at the airport at 5 a.m. aren’t about to drive.

Often, though, airlines don’t like it when airports compete with them for alcohol sales. They blame alcohol for passenger incidents, though inflight incidents spiked to their highest levels when the airlines themselves weren’t serving alcohol in coach during the pandemic. The real problem is that airlines have reduced staffing at gates, and focus more on policing carry-on bags, so they pay less attention than they used to whether passengers are actually fit to fly.