northernraider Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 The fact DVL has service to Denver via United is a major issue to getting some type of west connection. UA has tried GFK a couple of times, but canceled quickly. Quote
nodak651 Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 Brainstorming here.... and I don't know ANYTHING about airlines or flight operations, but... Is there any way that UND's aviation department could set up a direct flight to Denver? It could be in partnership with one of the airlines that they are currently working with... could provide students an opportunity to get real world airport management experience. Universities are partnered with businesses for different endeavors all over the country. If this can by done with hospitals, why not with aviation? GFK, Grand Forks, UND, and the airline would all benefit, and all or some of these could help to split potential losses. Would be a huge feather in the cap to UND's aviation program, and it would be a way to truly set UND apart from some of it's competition. Quote
ethanm Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 Fargo lost its direct SLC flight a few years ago due to the overall pilot shortage in the industry. I'm assuming Fargo would get that route back before Delta would consider going direct to GFK. Quote
OgieOgilthorpe Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 3 hours ago, Kab said: Salt lake and Denver are 2 musts for gfk Williston has several Denver flights a day lack of airport leadership in my view Even Devils Lake and Jamestown have the Denver flight. Dirt cheap to boot Quote
northernraider Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 1 hour ago, OgieOgilthorpe said: Even Devils Lake and Jamestown have the Denver flight. Dirt cheap to boot That is an EAS flight, basically a government subsidy for providing the service 1 Quote
Vegas_Sioux Posted July 25, 2019 Posted July 25, 2019 5 hours ago, nodak651 said: Brainstorming here.... and I don't know ANYTHING about airlines or flight operations, but... Is there any way that UND's aviation department could set up a direct flight to Denver? It could be in partnership with one of the airlines that they are currently working with... could provide students an opportunity to get real world airport management experience. Universities are partnered with businesses for different endeavors all over the country. If this can by done with hospitals, why not with aviation? GFK, Grand Forks, UND, and the airline would all benefit, and all or some of these could help to split potential losses. Would be a huge feather in the cap to UND's aviation program, and it would be a way to truly set UND apart from some of it's competition. Not going to happen too many delta elite passengers that use GFK they didn’t switch to United the last time ua served Gfk. And we’d send out a plane with 40 empty seats unless a great west conference team flew in. Quote
KEH Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 3 hours ago, Vegas_Sioux said: Not going to happen too many delta elite passengers that use GFK they didn’t switch to United the last time ua served Gfk. And we’d send out a plane with 40 empty seats unless a great west conference team flew in. Very true, flew out of GFK on Sunday. Gate agent called for “Sky Priority” and 30 out of the 50 people boarded. I think it’s also worth noting that Allegiant will not be flying Mesa -> GFK in September. I relied on that service to come home for a couple of football games. Adding insult to injury with new Fargo flights, Swoop (WestJet subsidiary) is going to fly to Mesa and Orlando from Winnipeg this winter. The GFK leadership has momentous task this winter to prevent further leakage. Quote
Kab Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 I don’t know what the airport board does but they better be working with UND and airlines to get things going makes no sense that a two gate airport was built looks like a two bit town when you fly in Willistons new airport should have been gfk model how many flights a year does UND take out of fargo? Quote
northernraider Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 Load factor for GFK hovers around 85%, which as an airline is fantastic numbers. However, the passenger count has decreased every year since 2014 which is not good for the airport. Grand Forks current has about 300 pax per day Quote
Sioux>Bison Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 52 minutes ago, Kab said: I don’t know what the airport board does but they better be working with UND and airlines to get things going makes no sense that a two gate airport was built looks like a two bit town when you fly in Willistons new airport should have been gfk model how many flights a year does UND take out of fargo? Grand Forks is lucky to have the airport they have now. Many bigger towns don’t have an airport that nice. Williston has a ton of travelers so they needed the bigger airport. Quote
OgieOgilthorpe Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 I wasn't too surprised by this list, other than MOT out gunning GFK slightly and Williston being so much higher than Dickinson. I understand the oil traffic, but wow. Quote
OgieOgilthorpe Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 17 hours ago, KEH said: Very true, flew out of GFK on Sunday. Gate agent called for “Sky Priority” and 30 out of the 50 people boarded. I think it’s also worth noting that Allegiant will not be flying Mesa -> GFK in September. I relied on that service to come home for a couple of football games. Adding insult to injury with new Fargo flights, Swoop (WestJet subsidiary) is going to fly to Mesa and Orlando from Winnipeg this winter. The GFK leadership has momentous task this winter to prevent further leakage. Yikes...the future is looking very bleak for GFK. Quote
The Sicatoka Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 5 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said: I wasn't too surprised by this list, other than MOT out gunning GFK slightly and Williston being so much higher than Dickinson. I understand the oil traffic, but wow. A big fraction of Minot is oil traffic also. Quote
OgieOgilthorpe Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 17 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said: A big fraction of Minot is oil traffic also. Absolutely. But in my head, I always pictured GF as a city with many more business folk who would tend to fly more often. On top of that I always picture the in-stream of flyers coming down from the city of 750,000 people only 2 hours north. So between those two thoughts, and GF being larger than Minot, I was surprised to see that the MOT airport had more passengers. Quote
Nodak78 Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 When the New Williston airport opens and adds flights and airlines the passenger load for Williston will surpass GF and near the gap between Minot and Williston. At the present time many for Williston and Watford City flight out of Minot or Bismarck on Allegiant. Allegiant will add flights to Phoenix and LV. Quote
Nodak78 Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 I wonder if UND Aviation could something comparable to Cape Air in Montana. https://www.capeair.com/flying_with_us/index.html Quote
OgieOgilthorpe Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 24 minutes ago, Nodak78 said: I wonder if UND Aviation could something comparable to Cape Air in Montana. https://www.capeair.com/flying_with_us/index.html That’s interesting. They could, and they should. They need to start making some moves, fast. Quote
Kab Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 6 hours ago, Sioux>Bison said: Grand Forks is lucky to have the airport they have now. Many bigger towns don’t have an airport that nice. Williston has a ton of travelers so they needed the bigger airport. Many years ago before the oil boom we were talking with Mayor Koeser of Williston he told us he was looking at moving the airport about 10 miles out of town. He had a vision back then and it’s paying off. the Red River Valley needs a vision for future airports and it would be to put an airport at Hillsboro to serve both Grand Forks and Fargo and quit putting money in both the current airports, people will complain that it’s 35 miles from either town. Most metro airports are more than 35 miles from their suburbs. Most people in North Dakota probably have to drive over 100 miles to an airport. go ahead and call me crazy, just my 2 cents Quote
nodak651 Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 1 minute ago, Kab said: Many years ago before the oil boom we were talking with Mayor Koeser of Williston he told us he was looking at moving the airport about 10 miles out of town. He had a vision back then and it’s paying off. the Red River Valley needs a vision for future airports and it would be to put an airport at Hillsboro to serve both Grand Forks and Fargo and quit putting money in both the current airports, people will complain that it’s 35 miles from either town. Most metro airports are more than 35 miles from their suburbs. Most people in North Dakota probably have to drive over 100 miles to an airport. go ahead and call me crazy, just my 2 cents Denver airport is about 35 minutes from the city. Sucks. But I think you're right. And NDSU is land locked, right? They could buy some of the Fargo airport land. Quote
Nodak78 Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 5 minutes ago, Kab said: Many years ago before the oil boom we were talking with Mayor Koeser of Williston he told us he was looking at moving the airport about 10 miles out of town. He had a vision back then and it’s paying off. the Red River Valley needs a vision for future airports and it would be to put an airport at Hillsboro to serve both Grand Forks and Fargo and quit putting money in both the current airports, people will complain that it’s 35 miles from either town. Most metro airports are more than 35 miles from their suburbs. Most people in North Dakota probably have to drive over 100 miles to an airport. go ahead and call me crazy, just my 2 cents Mayor Koeser was a steady force during the downturn(in the 1990's) and got Williston on the right foot coming into the 2010 boom. Airport is going to drive growth with more airlines. But the new economic development on the airport will be very huge in the next 10 years. Quote
WiSioux Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 1 hour ago, Nodak78 said: I wonder if UND Aviation could something comparable to Cape Air in Montana. https://www.capeair.com/flying_with_us/index.html You want UND to start an airline? You've clearly never heard the joke about how to become a millionaire in aviation... Quote
Nodak78 Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 48 minutes ago, WiSioux said: You want UND to start an airline? You've clearly never heard the joke about how to become a millionaire in aviation... No I haven't. Please share Quote
Vegas_Sioux Posted July 26, 2019 Posted July 26, 2019 15 minutes ago, Nodak78 said: No I haven't. Please share Start with a billion 1 Quote
Nodak78 Posted July 27, 2019 Posted July 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Vegas_Sioux said: Start with a billion Lol Quote
nd1sufan Posted July 27, 2019 Posted July 27, 2019 5 hours ago, Kab said: Many years ago before the oil boom we were talking with Mayor Koeser of Williston he told us he was looking at moving the airport about 10 miles out of town. He had a vision back then and it’s paying off. the Red River Valley needs a vision for future airports and it would be to put an airport at Hillsboro to serve both Grand Forks and Fargo and quit putting money in both the current airports, people will complain that it’s 35 miles from either town. Most metro airports are more than 35 miles from their suburbs. Most people in North Dakota probably have to drive over 100 miles to an airport. go ahead and call me crazy, just my 2 cents Yep, Fargo is going to piss off 90% of their travelers that have a 10 mile or less drive to the airport to make it more convenient for people in the GF area to catch a flight. Not going to happen. 1 Quote
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