North Dakota's airports report highest passenger numbers since onset of pandemic

Jul. 16—GRAND FORKS — North Dakota's commercial airports reported their highest passenger numbers since 2019, with the state's busiest airport setting records.

Through the first five months of 2023, 458,954 passengers boarded flights at the eight airports classified as commercial service, up from 412,257 during the same time frame in 2022. The figure is the highest since 2019 — the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed demand for air travel.

Hector International Airport in Fargo saw 40,969 boardings during May, and 214,414 for the year to date — both are records for the airport.

"Six or seven of our last nine months have been all-time records for passenger boardings," said Shawn Dobberstein, the airport's executive director.

Although May passenger numbers at Grand Forks International Airport declined slightly from 2022, the airport's 41,267 passenger boardings for the year to date are its highest since 2019's count of 48,781.

Kyle Wanner, executive director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, attributed the rise to an increase in demand for leisure travel.

"For the most part, all of our airports have been doing very well, and have been having a successful recovery from the lows of the pandemic," he said. "The demand is back for leisure travel."

Average load factor across the eight airports — defined as the percentage of available seating capacity filled by passengers — stands at 79%, which according to Wanner signifies a healthy level of demand.

However, Wanner said the airline industry still has work to do to further boost passenger numbers. One of these steps is courting business travelers.

"Business travel is coming back, but we're not yet back to where we were pre-pandemic," he said. "That is the one area we'd like to continually see improvement. Bismarck is one of the airports that has not seen a full recovery, and one of the main reasons cited is government and business travel just isn't back to where it was."

Wanner also cited a reduction in the number of seats available for purchase — something he attributes to pilot shortages — as a factor holding back further growth in air travel. He said the total number of airline seats available for May across North Dakota's airports was 115,000 — a decrease from approximately 124,000 pre-pandemic.

"Your passenger numbers can only go up as much as seats are available," Wanner said. "Hopefully over time, the airlines will continue to add more flights, and/or larger aircraft, which can result in more seats being available."

Dobberstein concurred with Wanner's assessment of the impact of pilot shortages.

"American, United and Delta aren't operating the number of flights that they would otherwise operate due to the lack of pilots," he said. "The market is underserved. We've still been able to attain our record numbers with limited flight schedules, but we could possibly have even higher numbers if we had additional seats."

* Bismarck Municipal Airport: 100,518

* Devils Lake Regional Airport: 2,756

* Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport: 9,685

* Hector International Airport: 214,414

* Grand Forks International Airport: 41,267

* Jamestown Regional Airport: 4,021

* Minot International Airport: 58,847

* Williston Basin International Airport: 27,446