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NEW AIRPORT RECORD More passenger boardings will result in more funds

For the fifth year in a row Jamestown Regional Airport set a new record for annual paid passenger boardings with 12,865 for 2017. This will be the second consecutive year the airport had more than 10,000 paid passenger boardings, which means the ...

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The Jamestown Regional Airport set a record for 2017 with 12,865 paid passenger boardings for the year. John M. Steiner / Sun file photo

For the fifth year in a row Jamestown Regional Airport set a new record for annual paid passenger boardings with 12,865 for 2017.

This will be the second consecutive year the airport had more than 10,000 paid passenger boardings, which means the airport will receive $1 million in entitlement funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. Prior to 2016, the airport only received $150,000 from the FAA in entitlement funding.

The 2017 paid passenger figure is up 15.6 percent from 2016 when 11,123 paid passengers were recorded.

Sam Seafeldt, airport director, said he was not surprised the airport set another annual record for passenger boardings given the level of service the airport receives from SkyWest Airlines. SkyWest Airlines is a regional airline that provides commercial passenger service to airports under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service program. SkyWest won the EAS contract for Jamestown Regional and Devils Lake Regional airports to provide commercial passenger jet service to Denver International Airport. The current twoyear contract with the DOT expires on June 30. Seafeldt said he is hoping to see a new request for proposal from the DOT within the next month.

''They are happy with the response from the community since they started offering commercial passenger jet service in June of 2014. The numbers have only been going up.
SAM SEAFELDT, director, Jamestown Regional Airport, referring to SkyWest Airlines

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“SkyWest Airlines has been providing excellent service, even in the bad weather,” he said.

Seafeldt said SkyWest Airlines officials have also been satisfied with the response from the Jamestown and Devils Lake communities in using the airline’s daily flights. SkyWest contracts with United Express to provide two flights daily between Jamestown and Devils Lake to Denver.

“They are happy with the response from the community since they started offering commercial passenger jet service in June of 2014,” he said. “The numbers have only been going up.”

Mayor Katie Andersen, who represents the city Council on the Jamestown Regional Airport Authority, said she is excited that Jamestown has another record-setting year for passenger boardings.

“It says a lot about how strong the economy is here in Jamestown and the surrounding area,” she said.

Andersen said the continued strong passenger numbers also show that SkyWest Airlines provides a strong level of service.

“We want to continue our relationship with SkyWest Airlines based on their level of service,” she said.

Jamestown had the highest percentage increase in paid passenger boardings for 2017. Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport saw its paid passenger numbers jump 12.67 percent to 18,938, up from 16,795. Devils Lake passenger boardings are up 5.6 percent to 6,644 in 2017, from 6,290 in 2016. Sloulin Field International Airport in Williston passenger boardings increased just under 1 percent to 68,685. Bismarck Municipal Airport’s paid passenger boardings increased slightly from 271,022 to 272,739 for 2017.

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Kyle Wanner, executive director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, said in a prepared statement that overall passenger boardings were down 1.8 percent for the state, 1.03 million, from 1.04 million in 2016.

colson@jamestownsun.com

(701) 952-8454

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