North Dakota’s air travel demand during the summer months remains strong as residents and visitors take advantage of the state’s air service opportunities. During the first half of calendar year 2022, North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports provided a total of 497,322 passenger boardings. This is a growth of 118,498 passengers or a 31% increase when comparing the statewide passenger counts to the first six months of 2021.
During the recent month of June, North Dakota also posted a total of 84,630 airline passenger boardings which is a 4.5% increase from June of 2021.
North Dakota’s overall passenger counts remain approximately 15% below the pre-pandemic passenger numbers that were last experienced in 2019. The available seats and flights available to the traveling public throughout North Dakota are also still below pre-pandemic levels as airlines continue to communicate difficulties in adding capacity into the system.
Cancellations and delays in airline flights have also risen throughout the country during the busy summer travel season. Most of the negative impacts are being seen at large hub airports outside of the state as departures from within North Dakota have been dependable with an overall low cancellation rate. Current estimates show that less than 2% of all planned flight departures from within North Dakota were cancelled during the month of June.
“Throughout the summer months, our airports continue to show strong passenger demand while also providing travelers with reliable departures to our non-stop destinations outside of North Dakota,” stated Kyle Wanner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. “As the industry continues to work to train additional staff and adjust flight schedules, we hope to see reductions in the amount of flight cancellations and delays that are currently being experienced throughout the country.”
