The Dickinson Airport Authority Board plans to aggressively pursue the magic 10,000 passenger boarding number in 2009.
The board discussed several different strategies for achieving the milestone at its regular meeting Tuesday at the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport.
If the goal is reached, the airport would receive $1 million dollars in federal funding.
"That money, if we reach 10,000, is money we can use to improve the airport, to provide better services to the community," Airport Manager Matthew Remynse said.
However, the money could not be used for the everyday operations of the airport. Remynse said that wouldn't be a problem.
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"It has to be used for capital projects that the airport can't afford using its normal operations," Remynse said. "If you get a million dollars, I can tackle four years worth of projects in one year."
Remynse said with the assistance of the federal dollars, extensions to the existing runways could be made to enable the landing of larger planes and other advantages.
"We need to get rocking and rolling," Airport Board President Jon Frantsvog said, adding that the promotion of the airport groups could really help achieve higher boarding numbers.
Frantsvog said it's important the word gets out about the 10,000 passenger goal and its potential win-fall.
In other business, Remynse informed the board he had applied for the airport manager job in Minot. Remynse said the job is something of a dream job being it is the airport which serves his hometown.
