North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted a total of 39,451 passenger boardings during the month of September. This amounts to a 44% retention rate of the passengers that the state experienced during the same month last year and is the highest monthly retention rate that the North Dakota has experienced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is also the first month since April that the state has experienced a lower passenger volume than the previous month as there were 4,000 fewer passengers in September than in August.
“September is seasonally one of our slowest months for air travel in the state of North Dakota and so as expected, we experienced a small dip in passenger volume from August” stated Kyle Wanner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. “Our commercial service airports have now been successfully operating during the COVID-19 pandemic for seven months and during that time they have worked hard to ensure that a safe environment exists for the traveling public. Since air transportation is also one of the safest modes of transportation, it is critical that it continues to remain a viable option for our travelers.”