Western Airports Thrive - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Western Airports Thrive

2012 was a record year for air travel in the state.

2013 is already on pace to shatter that.

January 2013 saw 88-thousand boardings at airports across the state -- a 14 percent increase over a year ago.

Minot was up 10 percent with 16-thousand-eight-hundred passengers...and Williston jumped a whopping 129 percent.

In 2012, 27-hundred people boarded in Williston -- and this year the number was 62-hundred.

Andy Solsvig, the airport manager in Minot, says growth across western North Dakota is good...and Williston's gain may mean fewer passengers in Minot...but at this point, that might be okay.

(Andy Solsvig - Minot Airport Manager) "It is probably more convenient for some of the travelers now. Less of a drive. People have the choice and options now where before they really didn't have that and it will help with some of the pressure we have in Minot and will help us get through the next few years a little easier and get through the construction phase once we start into those projects."

Solsvig talking about the new airport terminal project that is coming over the next few years.

The increase in boardings comes despite issues that continue to crop up in Minot.

Deicing malfunctions...and even a bad plane wing had travelers delayed last week.

Over the weekend it was an Allegiant flight out of Minot was delayed hours after the wing issue was discovered -- forcing the airline to fly in another plane to get passengers to Las Vegas.

Pair that with a de-icing machine breakdown again...and it has meant some frustrations for passengers.

And that included manager Andy Solsvig who was delayed out on a vacation of his own.

He says these issues are, unfortunately, out of the hands of Minot officials...

(Andy Solsvig - Minot Airport Manager) "I happened to be flying out that morning and go on vacation! I understand these things happen and it is..we reacted very quickly to Delta and told them we need to get all of our trucks fixed because we can't just rely on one piece of equipment. We need to have all of them running."

Solsvig did say that Delta was quick to bring in mechanics to resolve the de-icing issue...and Allegiant is flying in crews to make the fix to the broken down plane that is sitting at the general aviation terminal now.