Mayor wants more people to take flights out of Grand Forks

Oct. 8—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski is forming a new committee to expand and improve air service at Grand Forks International Airport.

According to data provided by Bochenski's office, enplanements, or passengers boarding aircraft, dropped 39% since 2014. Between 2014 and 2019, the number of people taking flights out of Grand Forks stayed between 150,000 and 110,000 a year. A dip occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, the airport's annual enplanement number hovers below 100,000.

Among the four largest cities in North Dakota, Grand Forks trails in the number of enplanements. In 2022, the next busiest airport, Minot, saw almost 48,000 more enplanements than Grand Forks. In the nine-year period between 2014 and 2022, Grand Forks consistently saw fewer people taking flights from its airport than Minot, Bismarck or Fargo.

"Clearly we've lost some numbers when it comes to flights and passengers going through the airport," Bochenski said. "Ultimately, where (this committee) is going to head is to make the decision to apply for an air services grant."

That grant is through the federal government to help communities address air service and airfare issues. Grand Forks would use this grant to attract another carrier or bring additional flights to the airport from existing carriers. The mayoral committee will consist of members of Grand Forks' business community, aeronautics community and airport authority.

"I think this effort in many ways brings a voice to the business community to this conversation," Grand Forks Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Keith Lund said. "Regional airports are drivers and facilitators of economic development; the greater the connectivity, the greater the affordability, the greater the business growth."

Lund added that the timing of this committee formation is good.

"I appreciate the mayor's efforts with the general growth of the community, growth of business and particularly the announcements at Grand Sky and development that will occur there over the next several years," Lund said. "Additional air service is going to be important."

The fastest another carrier would be making an appearance at the Grand Forks Airport would be two years from now. The committee will hold its first meeting at the end of October.

In addition to discussing the potential of bringing additional routes and carriers to the airport, the committee will seek commitments from Grand Forks area businesses to fly local. The main goal of those commitments, according to Bochenski, is to stem the loss to other airports.

"It's a quality of life to the people that live here," Bochenski said. "People not having to drive an hour, hour and a half to Devils Lake or Thief River Falls when they can catch a flight at an airport that's five minutes away."

Grand Forks is a hub for aviation, due to UND's flight school and nearby Grand Forks Air Force Base. Bochenski wants to expand it also into commercial aviation.

"We can sit back and just say 'this is good enough' but I've never been one to do that," Bochenski said. "The response from the (business) community was immediate — every person we called (to join the committee) was an immediate yes."