Airport launches new flight schedule, awards bids

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Great Lakes Airlines has upgraded air service in Dickinson by implementing a new flight schedule, according to a Monday press release from the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport.

The new schedule, which begins Aug. 17, includes a daily overnight aircraft in Dickinson. The addition will increase the reliability of air service and increase the number of seats available for passengers traveling out of the Dickinson Airport.

The flight will be direct between Dickinson and Denver, with no intermediate or subsequent destinations.

“The flight schedule changes are something we’ve been working on for a long time, and we’re incredibly pleased to see that the majority of the changes we’ve been seeking are happening with the Aug. 17 schedule changes,” Airport Authority Chairman Jon Frantsvog said in the press release.

The new flight schedule will allow an additional 100 seats to be available every week.

If the airport’s boarding reaches 10,000 passengers, it will move into another level of funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport can then receive an additional $850,000 of funding that will be used for improvements on the airfield.

To learn more about the flight schedule, contact a travel agent, or go to www.dickinsonairport.com or www.flygreatlakes.com.

In other matters, the Municipal Airport Authority awarded bids on a $1.27 million terminal expansion July 13, Matthew Remynse, airport manager said Monday.

Three companies with low bids were awarded:

* American General Contractors: $700,000

* Central Mechanical: $193,100

* Berger Electric: $155,200

“We needed to put an expansion on to meet our growth and meet future demand,” Remynse said.

Construction is to begin in August and he expects to be done in September, 2011.

“We’ve been working with the tenants of the airfield to assure no flights will be cancelled or delayed,” Remynse said. “However, there will be some inconveniences for the passengers during some of the construction periods … but we’re going to try to limit those as much as possible.”

It will make for a more “user-friendly” terminal, Remynse said.

The expansion will provide a larger “sterile area,” which is the area passengers enter after going through security, Remynse said. Restrooms will also be added to this area.

“They won’t feel like sardines when they’re in the sterile area like they are now,” Remynse said.

The check-in area will be enlarged, the arrival lobby will be more open and more seating will be available in the terminal.

“In the baggage claim area, we’re putting in a conveyer system to help alleviate some of the congestion around the baggage claim area,” Remynse said.

The expansion, which will be an additional 3,830 square feet will nearly double the size of the terminal. In addition, 2,760 square feet of existing space will be remodeled, Remynse said.

Funding for the project is provided by:

* FAA: $950,000.

* The North Dakota Aeronautics Commission: $300,000

* Stark County: $50,000

* Dickinson Airport: $52,000

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