following systemwide adjustments for Allegiant, which merged with Sun Country earlier this year. Grand Forks Airport Authority Executive Director Ryan Riesinger <\/p>\n
told county commissioners in April<\/a><\/p>\n the Las Vegas flights were expected to return in September. The Allegiant website shows booking options available now; the first flight was Thursday, Sept. 3. <\/p>\n Starting dates for Mesa and Orlando have not yet been officially announced, but Riesinger on Monday confirmed their expected return.<\/p>\n Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said the return of Las Vegas flights and the addition of the Orlando flights are both good news, but he still has bigger hopes for the future of the airport.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still not the big nugget; the big nugget still is getting another major carrier here on those daily, continuous routes,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s really what\u2019s going to open up travel for everybody and keep people from leaving Grand Forks and going to other airports for air service.\u201d<\/p>\n Bochenski and the Air Service Expansion Committee have been working to expand air service at the airport since 2023, with their biggest goal being to add daily connecting flights to Denver. Those likely would be offered through United Airlines, but other airlines, particularly American Airlines, also have been considered.<\/p>\n The city and the Air Service Expansion Committee are still working with Meehan Aviation Group, hired as a consultant in 2024, to expand service.<\/p>\n Previously, an update on the status of Denver flights was thought to come in June, during an air service conference held in Chicago. Had the flights been announced then, they would have been added to Grand Forks\u2019 schedule in fall or winter.<\/p>\n “It’s been quite the delay, so I’m not really happy sitting around waiting on others. But that’s where we’re at right now,” Bochenski said.<\/p>\n He added that he and the committee check in on the status of the added flights \u201cperiodically,\u201d but no confirmation has been made yet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe keep kind of hearing, ‘It\u2019s not a matter of if, it\u2019s more of a matter of when.’ But until we know, I\u2019m not counting my chickens until they\u2019ve hatched,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A fourth daily flight to Minneapolis through Delta Air Lines was introduced in April.<\/p>\n The airport previously received a $1 million small community air service grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help with integrating additional flights at the airport. <\/p>\n Federal lawmakers Sens. Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven and Rep. Julie Fedorchak have expressed their support for additional air service, and <\/p>\n
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