MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — More people are flying to and from North Dakota. The amount of commercial airline passengers in our state continues to show improvement as time goes on.

The eight commercial service airports throughout ND saw more than 90,000 airline passenger boardings in January, which is up 24% from January 2022.

And this year’s airline passenger numbers are up about 1.5% from the same month in 2019, which is used as a baseline for pre-pandemic boardings.

Kyle Wanner, the Director of the Aeronautics Commission says this is good for the state overall.

“It’s an indicator of the economy of North Dakota,” Wanner explained. “When you look at the airline passenger numbers, if they’re doing really well, a lot of times that’s an indicator that the economic well-being of the state is doing great as well. If you look at the oil boom in 2014 and 2015, our airline passenger numbers really skyrocketed during those years. And to see us getting back to pre-Pandemic levels is great news.”

Wanner says if the trend continues, it could mean 2023 is seen as a recovery year for airlines.