Submiitted Graphic
North Dakota airline passenger boardings (2017-2020). Source: N.D. Aeronautics Commission.
North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports finished 2020 with fewer than half the number of passengers who traveled by air in 2019, according to information released by the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission.
There were 572,093 airline passenger boardings statewide last year – a decrease of 619,476 passengers or 52%. It is the lowest passenger count that the state has recorded since calendar year 2003, according to the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission.
Minot ended 2020 with 84,601 passenger boardings at Minot International Airport, down 49% from 2019. The airport saw 165,988 boardings in 2019 and 222,144 boardings at its peak in 2014. December 2020 brought 8,039 boardings, far short of the 15,718 in 2019 and peak of 20,828 in December 2013.
BISMARCK, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – During the month of November, North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted a total of 42,868 passenger boardings which amounts to a 55% decline in the number of passengers that the airports experienced during the same month last year.
“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact air travel demand in North Dakota and throughout the rest of the country. It does, however, look like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now that the distribution of an approved COVID-19 vaccine has begun.” stated Kyle Wanner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission.