Grand Forks International Airport ushers in growing number of planes, people
December 22, 2012 at 1:35 am in Grand Forks Herald
Numbers don’t lie. And what the numbers say about the Grand Forks International Airport is “We are very viable, very busy. Our community should be very proud of their airport,” said Patrick Dame, Grand Forks Regional Airport Authority executive director. Continue Reading
I love flying in and out of GFK. The new terminal is great. No real complaints. There is no doubt this is an economic engine for the area. Odegard did his Master’s thesis on the benefit of air travel to executives and what he wrote in 1967 is even more true today: when you factor in what your time costs (If you are an executive who earns anything over $200,000 a year it is economically foolish for you to drive to MNPLS. It simply costs too much) air travel is a necessity.
With the oil patch booming, there will come a day when an INTRA STATE airline, one which connects cities within ND and maybe a few in Montana will become economically viable. That will dramatically increase the value of GFK to GF and the RRV
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It is a two story building gene.. I know my company helped to build it.
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That was my point. The other only had one.
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Gene I am sorry.. Your sarcasm completely escaped me again..
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Grand Forks has always wanted to be Fargo. Anything Fargo does, Grand Forks wants.
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Just so you know gene the old building didnt meet fire code was condemned and served its purpose. The retrofit to just bring it up to code not remove the black mold from the basement was right around 20 million.
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What would it have cost to bring it up to code? Point is, this is GF in a nutshell…don’t build something serviceable, build it grandiose. You see it in the Alerus, the Arnold Palmer Golf Course, the fitness center, the UND parking ramp, the alumni center. BTW,what mental giant designed the “restaurant” the size of a closet?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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One option was to keep the terminal as is and not perform any upgrades. The consulting group did not recommend this as the terminal has too many structural and safety problems. The list of problems include: mold growth, roof leakage, differential settlement, blocking runway line of sight, passenger boarding, potential equipment damage from basement flooding, outdated electrical and mechanical systems, no sprinkler system, code deficiencies, insufficient parking setback, and interior traffic circulation issues. The terminal could be rehabilitated for $18.3 million, however, that would leave many issues unresolved and leave no room for expansion.
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Interesting that the original airport building is still functioning as Bjerke Travel Agency on N. 43rd St.
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Did they move the building or the runways? Seriously.
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Realist, The building is in the original spot. The runways were torn up. The North south runway was about where I-29 now is between Univ. and US #2.
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After the airport moved it was the police station for a while.
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That´s because they can always find a reason to build new and spend tax dollars.
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Dash is correct Gene. Your knee jerk curmudgeonness (is that a word?) simply got the best of you this time.
The old terminal had to go. Like most things in modern life, it is cheaper to replace than repair.
Now if you want to go crazy on its name, I am all for it. I don’t like living mementos to politicians. Naming it after a dead soldier or police officer would have been more appropriate.
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Let’s not talk knee-jerk too much FN, especially after your torn ACL from the nickname debate.
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I thought my side won that debate?
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It’s not over until Alwayscorrect concedes.
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Your side won a vote the debate still rages on
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The debate was won for the simple reason people accepted the “my feelings are hurt” argument as valid.
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The debate rages on.
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Another desperate plea for fly United. I said a long time ago united to Denver was a bad choice a better choice would have been to chicago. That’s two articles now in two weeks where the airport is claiming not enough people are using this service. I bet united pulls out by April.
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That or a Delta flight to Detroit like Duluth has. The only reason numbers are so good is Allegiant. Take Allegiant out of the picture and the numbers plummet. As for flyingnurses comment, I wrote a master’s thesis that proved that air service does not lead to economic development. In fact my argument was that air service followed economic development and Minot and Williston are proof my theory is correct. By the way, Odegard’s work was not cited by anyone in my research and I cited authors of works going back to the 50′s. There has been intrastate air service before and they always have gone broke.
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I agree with None…United flights should come from Chicago…We were very excited to have another Airline option other than Delta out of GF…we have to fly once a month or sometimes more often. With United we have tried to fly the trips from the southern US through United, but it adds more costs and anywhere from 1 to 2 hrs more to the trip time which usually can be done in 7 to 9 hrs now (with connections) on Delta. 10 to 12 hour days of flying are too long and exhausting and shouldn’t have to be that way to fly anywhere within the US.
Before Delta cut back on available planes, and had more flights…the trip could be done in 6-7 hours (with connections) AND cost less. In just the last 2 1/2 years Delta’s prices have doubled for the same flight
with fewer options and longer waits on connections. And about 45% of the time there is a none weather related problem (extra delay) along the way. It grates on a person being “trapped” by one company like that! Flying is getting to be not much better than smelly bus travel.
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It is Interesting that the original airport building is still functioning as Bjerke Travel Agency on N. 43rd St.
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The original airport building is in its original spot. The runways were torn up. The North south runway was about where I-29 now is between Univ. and US #2.
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We fly out of Bemidji. The flight to the Twin Cities is cheaper and with seven people in the family it saves us a load of dough. From there we catch a flight to Grand Rapids, Michigan … then a plane change to Cheboygan … where my in-laws pick us up for the drive to Devils Corner and our home on Lake Superior.
“I’ll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree. Christmas Eve will find me where the love light gleams. I’ll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams.”
Merry Christmas folks!
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At 55 cents a mile it costs you about $150 for wear and tear and fuel +parking to fly out of Bemidji vs GF.
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I should say $150 to $200 more in trans. fees just to get to and from Bemidji. Isn’t it a wash or do you save $100 per ticket? Then I guess its worth it.
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The savings for my family of seven was $1411.20. Well worth the trip to Bemidji.
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I’ve only been to the bemidji airport once and seem to remember the parking was free
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Why so cheap in Bemidji to fly to Mpls. Is it the use of prop jets instead of reg. jets or just smaller planes? You saved $100 each way per person. Bemidji is a bit closer to MSP than GFK but is it the aircraft style used that is the cost differential due to less fuel?
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Same airline (Delta) but smaller plane from Bemidji. Ticket price GFK $613.60. Ticket price BJI $412. $2884 to get the family to MSP and that is just the first leg of our trip home.
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But it is a Delta regional subcontracted airline like Mesaba used to be for Northwest I’m thinking. As a result they use less fuel with smaller plane and pay pilots less.
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That could be. I imagine you are correct. Merry Christmas Spearman !
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Merry Christmas to you too DC. Feels odd using your handle all spelled out on Xmas.
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At $2800. to fly from Bemidji to MSP, why not just drive?
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Why when we can fly? It’s Christmas. We don’t want to spend half of our vacation traveling. And this way we can return at different times.
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Because it´s only a four hour drive and you could save 2800 bucks!
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