ALL-TIME PASSENGER TRAFFIC RECORD SET IN 2008

Airline passenger traffic in December at Hector International Airport showed an increase as compared to the same month in 2007.  In December 2008, the passenger enplanements were 29,125.  This is an increase of 17.3% when compared to the December 2007 passenger enplanements of 24,827. Total passenger count for the month was 57,631, which is up 14.5% over the same period last year.

In December 2008, Northwest Airlines operated eight daily flights to Minneapolis with Airbus A319/320, DC-9, EMB-175 and CRJ200 aircraft.  United Express operated four daily flights to Chicago and three daily flights to Denver with the Canadair CRJ200 aircraft.  Frontier Airlines operated twice-daily service to Denver utilizing the Bombardier Q400 aircraft.  Allegiant Air operated two-weekly flights to Las Vegas, three-weekly flights to Phoenix/Mesa and two-weekly flights to Orlando-Sanford utilizing the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft.

For the year 2008, Northwest Airlines had 51% of the market share, United Express at 29%, Allegiant Air at 12%, Frontier at 7%, and Delta Connection at 1% with a daily average of 1,779 passengers both arriving and departing.