April Snowstorms Impact Air Travel in Central & Western North Dakota

Posted 5/16/22 (Mon)

North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted a total of 76,553 airline passenger boardings during the month of April, 2022. This is a 23% increase from the 62,168 boardings that the state experienced in April, 2021. It is also approximately 17% below April 2019’s pre-pandemic passenger counts of 92,063.

The multiple heavy snowstorms that our state experienced in April provided increased challenges for our airports and passengers as North Dakota experienced a larger than normal airline cancellation rate which resulted in a lower-than-expected statewide passenger count for the month. A majority of the cancellations were experienced in central and western North Dakota in the areas most impacted by the heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions. The below chart provides an initial estimation of the airline departure statistics which show an average statewide airline departure cancellation rate for the month of April, 2022 at 9.6%. The month of April has been historically in the 1% - 3% range for a statewide cancellation rate in North Dakota.

 

	BIS	DVL	DIK	FAR	GFK	JMS	MOT	XWA	TOTALS
Departures Scheduled	318	56	52	458	136	56	190	112	1,378
Departures Cancelled	35	10	9	8	4	10	36	20	132
Cancellation Rate	11.0%	17.9%	17.3%	1.7%	2.9%	17.9%	18.9%	17.9%	9.6%

 

“April was a challenging month for our airports and passengers particularly in Central and Western North Dakota, as they experienced an increased amount of delays and cancellations due to multiple major snowstorms.” stated Kyle Wanner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. “Our airports did an incredible job in keeping up with snow removal operations to alleviate the impacts to the traveling public as best as possible. That being said, we look forward to improved weather conditions as we move into the summer months.”

April 2022 Airline Boarding Press Release & Statistical Information