Hector International Airport sees more people flying

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Hector International Airport passenger numbers are trending upwards since January.

According to the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, more than 73,000 passengers used all eight airports in North Dakota in January.

That’s 73 percent more than January 2021, but below 100,000 passengers in January 2020.

Lack of commercial flights during COVID-19 hurt the state’s largest airport and pilot shortages became the epidemic airports face since 2019.

“Some carriers have had to suspend operations like our Denver service on Frontier and all will be suspended through the end of April because of a lack of pilots. While we lose frequency, sometimes they do up-cage the aircraft to a larger aircraft so you really may not lose the same number of seats that you had in the market but certainly losing the frequencies is disappointing,” Executive Director of Hector International Airport Authority Shawn Dobberstein said.

Dobberstein adds 2019 was a record-breaking year for passengers boarding from Fargo.