The North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, in partnership with the Airport Association of North Dakota, has announced the winners of the 2021 North Dakota Airport of the Year Awards:
- 2021 North Dakota Commercial Service Airport of the Year: Grand Forks International Airport
- 2021 North Dakota General Aviation Airport of the Year: Hillsboro Regional Airport
The awards were presented on Tuesday, March 8th, during the annual North Dakota Aviation Association’s FLY-ND Conference awards banquet held this year in Fargo.
Grand Forks International Airport and Hillsboro Regional were recognized for excellence in community outreach, facility management, construction and beautification projects, and special events.
Grand Forks Int’l Airport Accomplishments for 2021:
While airline passenger traffic continues its slow recovery nationwide, aircraft activity at Grand Forks International Airport is nearly as busy as ever. As the home of the University of North Dakota’s School of Aerospace Sciences, hundreds of student pilots take to the skies over Grand Forks each semester in a carefully orchestrated flurry of activity to train for careers in the aviation industry. This activity helped Grand Forks International Airport achieve the extraordinary distinction of America’s busiest airport on no less than eleven separate days between March 1st and May 26th. The airport was ranked as the 12th busiest airport in the country for 2021 with 349,405 successful takeoffs and landings.
2021 saw an impressive effort by the Grand Forks International Airport to tackle a series of projects that will improve its services and capabilities. An Environmental Assessment was completed in a brisk one-year timeframe and agreements were negotiated with neighboring landowners to acquire property for future airport expansion. Construction work was initiated on the partial relocation of County Road 5 to enable an extension of the airport’s crosswind runway slated for next year. Several new hangars will soon be constructed to house local private aircraft. The airport has also been working closely with the Department of Homeland Security to develop a new Customs and Border Protection facility, and a new air traffic control tower is under design by the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, Grand Forks has acquired several new firefighting and snow removal vehicles to enhance safety at the airfield.
To the delight of hockey fans, the Grand Forks airport coordinated with the Ralph Englestad Arena, Allegiant Airlines, area travel agencies, and airport tenants to enable 1,500 excited fans to fly directly to Nashville, Tennessee on October 28th to attend the 2021 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game. This resulted in Grand Forks experiencing the single busiest day of passenger traffic in the airport’s history.
Hillsboro Regional Airport Accomplishments for 2021:
The Hillsboro Airport Authority has shown great commitment to promoting the growth of aviation in North Dakota. Many Authority members are active pilots and can be found at area continuing education training seminars. A new flight simulator was installed at the terminal to help train student pilots and experienced aviators alike. The airport hosted a big fly-in event in August with pilots offering rides to the public and more than 30 aircraft from across the region taking part. The team at Hillsboro also helped to create the first annual “Fly to Beach” event with pilots from around the state flying into the Beach Airport to attend the Medora Musical and spend the night.
2021 was an outstanding year for activity at Hillsboro Regional Airport. Three newly minted pilots joined the ranks of the Hillsboro flying community, as well as twelve new aircraft. Business was up, with record fuel sales and two new aerial application businesses moving to the airfield. The airport also continued their partnership with L3 Harris, who operates an on-site radar station used to study Beyond Visual Line of Site operations of drone aircraft.
Multiple major construction projects were completed in 2021. A new airport beacon was installed early in the year. During the summer a full-length taxiway was completed running parallel to the runway and included airfield drainage improvements and a lighting system. This new taxiway dramatically improved aircraft traffic circulation and is a welcome safety and operational enhancement for Hillsboro’s aviators and the many student pilots on training flights from UND Aerospace. A small taxilane was added on the western side of the airport to allow for the construction of much-needed new hangar facilities. To help alleviate demand by area pilots for space to store their aircraft at Hillsboro, the airport board passionately pursued and successfully completed the construction of two new five-unit hangar buildings along the new taxilane, and all units were reserved before construction broke ground. Members of the Airport Authority volunteered their time and labor to help complete work on the hangars, and even found the time to build a new patio area by the terminal building for the enjoyment of the flying community. Finally, the airport is moving forward with the design phase of a major project to rehabilitate their aircraft parking apron with construction slated for 2023.
