North Dakota’s eight commercial airports saw a 52 percent drop in boardings in 2020, compared with 2019.
The state's Aeronautics Commission said 572,093 people boarded commercial airplanes in 2020. That's a decrease of 619,476 passengers ffrom 2019.
The reason: COVID-19.
North Dakota Aeronautics Commission director Kyle Wanner said it could have been worse.
"We saw a 95% decrease in passenger numbers back in April," Wanner said. "That's the worst-case scenario."
Wanner said since that time, there has been a recovery.