EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third part of an ongoing series about efforts to enhance flight options at Grand Forks International Airport.
GRAND FORKS – Icon Architects works with clients across the United States. Kyle Kvamme, the Grand Forks-based company’s director of project development, calls those customers “national partners.”
When they visit, Icon prefers they fly directly to Grand Forks, Kvamme said, but they “tend to always fly into Fargo.”
“Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, whether it’s because of the cost or the travel,” said Kvamme, who in addition to leading project development also is a partner at Icon. “They rent a car in Fargo, buy lunch in Fargo and drive to Grand Forks. All (potential economic impact for Grand Forks) is wasted.”
Grand Forks city and business leaders are hoping to change that. In the coming weeks – maybe a few months – Mayor Brandon Bochenski expects to hear if city efforts to bring additional air service to Grand Forks have been successful. It’s a project two years in the making and one the mayor and others believe can transform business opportunities in Greater Grand Forks while reducing airfares that are double-digit percentages higher than at competing airports.
Bochenski has made this a landmark project since taking office in 2020, but business leaders also have a vested interest, since they say the current setup at Grand Forks International Airport – limited flight options and higher-than-average costs – is hurting existing businesses and hindering efforts to develop business in sectors the city deems important.
On Oct. 30, 2023, Bochenski convened the first meeting of the Grand Forks Business Air Service Task Force. Data presented that day noted that boardings at GFK (Grand Forks International’s airport code) had dropped some 40% since 2014. The airport’s top competitor – Fargo’s Hector International – had seen 455,215 boardings in 2022, an increase of 1.4% since 2014. In Grand Forks, the number was 89,410, a decrease of 39% in the same span.
“The main purpose is to just give feedback,” Bochenski told attendees that day. “We’ve got people from various sectors here, and we want to hear your insights and thoughts on how (existing service) impacts your business.”
In July 2024, more than 30 business leaders from the region did just that, penning letters that were sent in a package to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development Program, urging approval of funds that can be used to help attract an additional carrier or add flights at GFK – particularly flights westward. The city and local businesses raised more than $500,000 to be used in the effort.
By Nov. 1, 2024, came a response from the DOT: Grand Forks was awarded a $1 million grant, to be used to support its quest to open more flight options at GFK.
Now, two years since the first meeting of Bochenski’s task force and one year since the grant was announced, members of the task force and many business leaders are waiting – and hopeful.
At present, GFK offers three flights daily to and from Minneapolis, pulling away from the gate at 5 a.m., at midday and again shortly after 4 p.m. Some hope for daily service to Denver, while others say additional flights to Minneapolis are the key.
One of the business leaders who submitted a letter of support to the DOT was Chris Wolf, Grand Forks market president for Alerus, which has markets in Denver and Phoenix and employees and clients across the nation.
“Convenient air travel is essential for our executives and team members when they need to travel to and from these markets,” Wolf said. “While we value and appreciate the existing service at GFK, it is limited and does not provide convenient options for travel to and from Denver and the western part of the country.”
He noted that convenient and affordable air travel is important to Alerus’ workforce and, “finally, as a financial institution that serves many businesses in the region, we recognize the incredible benefits expanded air travel service delivers to our economy. Affordable and accessible air travel makes it much easier to do business and is an essential component for continued economic growth.”
In his letter to the DOT, Wayne Dietrich, COO of Grand Forks-based EAPC Architects and Engineers, said GFK is underserved and pricey.
“The Greater Grand Forks business community requires more nonstop service options,” Dietrich wrote. “Our business activity continues to increase and efficient access in/out of our market is critical for our business to grow.”
Wrote Minnkota Power Cooperative President Mac McLennan: “Minnkota Power currently has conferences all across the country and would immediately take advantage of the option of another carrier that connects us to the west. … Our cooperative’s travel demand requires more flights/service.”
Following are vignettes outlining flight experiences of three local businesses, taken from interviews conducted by the Herald in recent weeks.
Kvamme said the goal of Icon staff is to fly from GFK, with convenience being the chief motivator. Even if flying from Grand Forks is more expensive, he said it often “pencils out” because driving to Fargo and flying from there costs the firm in terms of paid travel time and mileage.
But limited flights mean that sometimes, “it’s not even an option,” he said.
Kvamme, who has served on both the County Commission and City Council, also looks at air service from a community perspective. For example, the city has become a destination for sports events and business conferences, he said.
Having expanded flight options would be “a sign of progress,” the same as other planned projects, such as a new interchange into the city from Interstate 29.
“All of these things build momentum, and getting a flight to Denver is that next step as our community wants to spend money, go places, travel and do business,” he said. “Anytime we’re limited, it reminds me of decisions where people said ‘it’s good enough for me.’ But it’s just not good enough for the next generation. All the work we’re doing now is just making Grand Forks better for the next generation.”
Grand Forks company Ideal Aerosmith is in the tech sector, designing and manufacturing equipment for navigation devices – things like gyros, magnetometers and motion testing equipment.
“We have people who travel out of Grand Forks probably every week, for sure multiple times per month. They’re going all over the U.S. and all over the world, but with limited flights, it just makes scheduling that much harder,” CEO Greg Owens told the Herald. “There are only three flights in and three out (from Grand Forks to Minneapolis). If anything goes wrong, you’re stuck in Minneapolis or you just can’t get out.”
Customers often fly into Fargo, Owens said, which adds inconvenience, especially during the northern Red River Valley’s winter weather.
“If they aren’t from a winter area, they have no idea what they have signed up for,” Owens said.
Owens believes that if another airline opens routes from Grand Forks, it will “introduce an element of competition” that could push down pricing. “Even if we could get back to five flights a day to Minneapolis, that gives people way more options,” he said.
The GrandSky aviation park, adjacent to Grand Forks Air Force Base, is a unique setup – Grand Forks County leases land from the base and in turn sublets it to GrandSky, which has become a destination for high-tech UAS businesses and projects.
It’s home to businesses like Northrop Grumman and General Aviation, as well as U.S. defense projects like SkyRange, a hypersonic missile testing program, and Project ULTRA, an effort between GrandSky and the Department of Defense to develop UAS vehicles that transport cargo.
In the years before ground was broken for GrandSky, Grand Forks International Airport had five flights per day to Minneapolis and regular service to Denver.
Limited air service, GrandSky President Tom Swoyer believes, is hindering the region’s opportunities.
“The fact that we have just three flights a day, coming in and out of Grand Forks, makes it tough to schedule meetings,” Swoyer said. “If you get here on the earliest flight, which gets you here a little before noon, you can meet in the afternoon and theoretically get out that evening, but most people don’t, and it means a multi-day trip. Now, that’s good for the economy – hotels and restaurants – but it means people come here less frequently.”
Fewer visits to Grand Forks, Swoyer says, means less opportunity to experience what the community has to offer.
“If you can’t walk on the ramp and experience how the wind blows and the weather, you just don’t get it,” he said. “Grand Forks is a fantastic community and we love being here. But you have to experience it. No matter how much stuff we put online or in PowerPoint and media decks, you can’t see it. … When people don’t go (to Grand Forks), that’s a loss for us.”
