Grand Forks International Airport Celebrates 50 Years

Aug. 20, 2014
A public event at the airport that included rare restored World War II-era planes helped mark the occasion. The airport will receive $700,000 in federal funds for taxiway reconstruction.

Aug. 19--Fifty years ago, Grand Forks welcomed its new airport.

Gone were the "bumpy strips" that characterized the old site on the western edge of town, and in their place were "two long slick runways." Passengers welcomed a new terminal building "with its modern facilities," a Herald reporter wrote.

"So, as of Saturday, the $2.5 million airport project that traveled a long and difficult road to even get started, had finally attained full stature, and everyone seemed happy with the result," reporter Lloyd C. Tinnes wrote in February 1964, referencing years of public debate leading up to the airport's opening.

Flash forward to Monday, when the Grand Forks International Airport celebrated its 50th anniversary. A public event at the airport that included rare restored World War II-era planes helped mark the occasion. Other aircraft, like a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter and a Valley Med Flight plane were on display as well.

"With all the security and everything... the romance of it is kind of disappearing," Airport Executive Director Patrick Dame said. "We really want to give people the opportunity to come out and touch and see the airplanes."

Changes and growth

While the airport has remained a few miles west of Grand Forks for 50 years, it has seen a number of changes, including a new terminal in 2011. Dame said the future will also see infrastructure improvements like runway reconstruction. U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven announced Monday that the airport will receive $700,000 in federal funds for taxiway reconstruction.

The completion of a new snow removal equipment building also was commemorated Monday. It was named after Stephen "Skip" Rucinski, a longtime Grand Forks Airport Authority employee who passed away last year.

"Skip had a lot of pride in this facility," Dame said. "It comes down to pride and dedication and we felt that was a really good motto to pass onto our staff, a really good example."

Dame touted the airport's economic benefits to Grand Forks, including the more than 800 people the Airport Authority and its tenants employ either on a full or part-time basis. He also said it's the 20th-busiest airport in the country, thanks in part to FedEx deliveries or UND students learning to fly.

Enplanements on passenger flights increased from 85,571 in 2008 to 135,519 in 2012, a 58 percent jump. That marked the first five years of Allegiant Air flying out of Grand Forks alongside Delta Air Lines. United Airlines had operated direct flights to Denver for more than a year before stopping its service in December.

Dame said he hopes Grand Forks will add new routes and carriers in the future.

"Many communities do not have an airport as large or diverse as Grand Forks," Dame told a crowd at the public celebration Monday.

More On the Web: The Grand Forks Airport Authority has posted collections of Herald articles donated by former airport manager Norman Midboe chronicling the lead up to and the opening of the new airport. Access them here: http://bit.ly/1w1VQtU and here: http://bit.ly/1Buy21Z

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