Dickinson Airport Enplanement Numbers Increasing Gradually; Construction on Runway on Schedule
The number of people traveling through Dickinson’s Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport is slowly increasing after COVID-19 hit the airline industry hard.
The airport tracks the number of passengers in terms of enplanements (those getting on a plane in Dickinson) and deplanements (those getting off a plane in Dickinson).
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport had seen an increase in the number of enplanements for the last three years, and by the end of 2019, it had reached its highest levels since 2015, ending the year with 23,901 enplanements.
Once the pandemic hit, the airport saw a steep decline in numbers. Last month, there were just 268 enplanements compared to 2,088 in May of 2020. Deplanements were only slightly higher at 290, compared to 2,057 the previous year.
So far in 2020, there have been 3,240 fewer enplanements and 3,145 fewer deplanements than in the previous year.
“As far as enplanement numbers go, they are increasing, albeit a very small amount,” said Airport Manager Kelly Braun.
The construction on the airport’s temporary runway is still underway and on schedule.
“The project is going well. We on are on schedule to start pouring concrete after the 4th of July weekend. The major common excavation was completed Friday of last week, so the big heavy equipment is parked until we start excavating the main runway next year,” Braun said.
The airport board approved reimbursement requests for work already done on the project. All together, the requests for reimbursement should give the airport back $877,517.50.
There was some discussion as to how to spend the nearly $1.1 million the airport received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Airport Grant Program.
“Those CARES Act funds can be spent for any legal purpose that the airport can expend funds,” Braun said. “ … From January 21 we have four years to expend those funds, so we went back and we looked at eligible funds. We put together a spreadsheet. We have a total amount that we’re requesting for reimbursement for $218,238.75.”
Board member Jon Franstvog asked for the airport’s plans to spend the funds.
“I had raised the question about using this as an opportunity for these other things that we haven’t been doing that we might want to do but are not going to get other grant funds for such as the hangar doors and that sort of thing,” he said. “Is this our spending plan, to just continue to get reimbursement?”
Braun said that some of the money will be used for the fixed base operator (FBO) remodel and repairs to hangars. Other than that, the money will go to the airport’s operating expenses due to the decrease in revenue caused by COVID-19.
The FBO remodel is nearly complete. Once it is finished, work will begin on the overhead doors of the cold storage hangars as well as roof repairs for the main hangar.
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