August North Dakota Airline Boardings Up 3% from 2021

North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted a total of 85,167 airline passenger boardings during the month of August 2022. This is a 3% increase from the 82,167 boardings that the state experienced in August 2021.  It is also approximately 16% below August 2019’s pre-pandemic passenger counts of 101,784.

A major runway intersection reconstruction project at the Grand Forks International Airport took place between August 21st – September 2nd.  No airline flights occurred at the airport during this time which led to 12 consecutive days in August with no passenger air service.  This is the reason for the anomaly and significant drop in passenger counts for Grand Forks during this month’s report.

“Air service demand throughout North Dakota remains healthy and our flight departures continue to show a high level of reliability with cancellation rates for the month of August below 1%,” stated Kyle Wanner, Executive Director for the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission.

Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.