New Airport Authority Board Member: Rick Berg

Rick Berg was appointed to the Municipal Airport Authority for a five-year term on April 8, 2023. Berg brings over 25 years of government and personal piloting experience to the Airport Authority Board. Originally from Hettinger, North Dakota, Berg graduated from NDSU with a degree in agricultural economics before starting his journey in real estate and politics, serving as North Dakota majority leader, speaker, and U.S. House representative. He is passionate about expanding aviation within the Fargo-Moorhead area to meet the needs of those who travel through North Dakota. Berg hopes to bring ideas to the table that better serve those who fly with Hector International Airport and shed light on integrating local businesses into aviation.  

Municipal Airport Authority board members include:  

• Chair – John Cosgriff
• Vice Chair – James Kapitan
• Paula Ekman
• Rick Engen
• Rick Berg

 Construction Project Updates 

We are expanding the North General Aviation apron to accommodate increased demand in general and corporate aviation activity. The expanded apron will be adjacent to Fargo Jet Center’s new hangar development. This project measures 13,500 square yards of 11.5-inch plain cement concrete (PCC) pavement. The project will also include new LED edge lighting, new LED airfield signs and a new storm sewer system to improve drainage surrounding the entire north general aviation area.  

 Due to failing pavement, safety updates are being made to the north and east perimeter roads at Hector. Perimeter roads around the airport are necessary for safe operation of airport operation vehicles, fuel trucks, maintenance vehicles, etc. These roads eliminate the need for service vehicles to cross runways, where they could potentially interfere with aircraft. Roughly 2.25 miles of roads will be redone, recycling the existing pavement and aggregate to reconstruct the roads.

Parking Updates 

We are currently working to remove the old exit plaza. Once removal is complete, a 160-stall parking lot will be constructed in its place. In addition, pavement maintenance to the existing short and long-term parking lots is underway. This project will cost around $835,000 and improve both traffic flow and travel stress.  

For more information on parking, visit: https://www.fargoairport.com/at-the-airport/parking/ 

ArtWORKS Musical Performances 

The ArtWORKS program at Hector International Airport will be hosting weekly musical performances by local artists, now through early August. Performances will begin at noon and last about 25 minutes. All performances will take place in the café and are open to the public to attend and enjoy. 

Upcoming performances include: 

• Wednesday, July 12 – Kicks Combo 

• Tuesday, July 18 – Matthew Johnson 
• Tuesday, July 25 – Dan Christianson 
• Monday, July 31 – Lezan Tahir & Jiyar Salman 
• Monday, August 7 – Silver Winds Flute Quartet 

For more information visit: https://www.fargoairport.com/at-the-airport/artworks/  

$22 Million Fargo Jet Center Expansion

Fargo Jet Center is expanding its facility with a new $22 million, 112,000-square-foot hangar and office complex that is on track to be completed in Q4 of this year The new complex is composed of a 27,000-square-foot maintenance hangar, a 23,000-square-foot hangar dedicated to aircraft special mission modifications, a surround of maintenance and avionics support offices, a technical workspace, and rooms for composite fabrication, paint and sheet metal fabrication. The expansion will help fulfill the need for growth in aircraft maintenance, avionics and special mission modifications. It will also provide additional hangar storage space for tenant and visiting aircraft. 

This facility will serve as the headquarters for Weather Modification International, sister company to Fargo Jet Center. Weather Modification International specializes in atmospheric chemistry, pollution and weather research, weather forecasting and modeling, and weather modification cloud seeding programs. The new facility will also house Fargo Jet Center’s growing flight school. Four aircraft were added to the fleet in 2022 to meet the increasing demand for flight training in our region, bringing the current fleet to 11 aircraft and a team of 11 certified flight instructors. The flight school recently celebrated an incredible milestone as they clocked over 700 hours (about four weeks) of flight time throughout the month of May, which is the most hours flown in one month within the school’s history. The new flight school facility will include three ground school training rooms, a classroom to accommodate up to 20 students for group training sessions and space for the new Flight Training Simulator. Fargo Jet Center is excited about how the newly added space will allow room for continued growth and enhance the overall flight training experience. 

Quarterly Feature: Sanford AirMed

Sanford AirMed is there when you need them the most. AirMed was first founded in 1984 and now staffs five bases across the tri-state area, including Fargo, Bismarck and Dickinson, North Dakota; Bemidji, Minnesota; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. AirMed offers two types of emergency transportation: helicopter and fixed wing. Fixed-wing operations are based at Hector.  

For fixed-wing operations, there are currently nine pilots on staff (with two on duty at all times) who take teams and patients safely to and from their destination. The fixed-wing turboprop is most often used when the flight is more than 130 miles or if the weather is unsuitable for a helicopter. The service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure that life-saving services are available when someone needs them. In Fargo, the Sanford AirMed adult and pediatric medical team is made up of 11 flight nurses and 11 flight paramedics who are specifically trained in flight medicine. All staff have considerable experience when they join the team. AirMed is equipped to care for patients of all ages, with specialty teams including neonatal and high-risk obstetrics.  

To date, Fargo AirMed has traveled to almost 30 states and can fly into Canada. During 2022, the Sanford AirMed fixed-wing air-ambulance based in Fargo completed 483 flights to treat those in emergency situations.  

For more information visit: https://www.sanfordhealth.org/medical-services/emergency-medicine/airmed 

Q2 Boarding Statistics 

Hector International Airport’s expectations for airport travel numbers have been surpassed as we observe a continuous upward trend in passenger traffic. In addition to records for Hector, individual airline records were set this quarter as well.   

April 2023 

Hector International Airport’s airline passenger traffic in April showed an increase when compared to the same month in 2022. In April 2023, the passenger enplanements were 39,680. This is an increase of 18% when compared to the April 2022 passenger enplanements of 33,736. The previous record in April was set in 2019 with 35,402 enplaned passengers. This is the fifth enplanement record in the previous eight months. 

The total passenger count for the month was 82,729, which is up 20% over the same period last year. 

There were 533 air carrier departures with an average of 96 seats per flight in April and an average of 2,758 total daily passengers. 

May 2023 

Hector International Airport’s airline passenger traffic in May showed an increase when compared to the same month in 2022. In May 2023, the passenger enplanements were 40,969. This is an increase of 15% when compared to the May 2022 passenger enplanements of 35,607. The previous record in May was set in 2019 with 37,796 enplaned passengers. This is the sixth enplanement record in the previous eight months. 

United Airlines also set an all-time monthly enplanement record of 11,453 passengers. 

The total passenger count for the month was 84,077, which is up 15% over the same period last year. 

There were 555 air carrier departures with an average of 93 seats per flight in May and an average of 2,712 total daily passengers. 

June 2023 

Hector International Airport’s airline passenger traffic in June showed an increase when compared to the same month in 2022. In June 2023, the passenger enplanements were 40,174. This is an increase of 10% when compared to the June 2022 passenger enplanements of 36,552. The previous record June was set in 2019 with 40,003 enplaned passengers. This is the fifth monthly enplanement record in the past six months. 

The total passenger count for the month was 82,095, which is up 10% over the same period last year. 

There were 497 air carrier departures with an average of 95 seats per flight in June and an average of 2,737 total daily passengers.