Williston Basin International Airport
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Williston Basin International Airport is an
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
serving Williston, a city in the U.S. state of
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
. It is located 9
nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...
(17km) northwest of the city. Williston Basin Airport has two runways and a terminal building. It was built to replace Sloulin Field International Airport, which previously served Williston and had experienced difficulty dealing with the increase in air traffic to Williston amid the North Dakota oil boom. The airport opened to the public on October 10, 2019.


History

The airport previously serving Williston was Sloulin Field International Airport. Sloulin Field Airport dealt with design concerns, constraints on expansion, and the need for runway works. In addition, the airport had difficulty coping with a significant rise in air traffic amid the North Dakota oil boom. In 2011, officials began to consider either making renovations to Sloulin Field or building a new airport. The cost of refurbishments was less than that of constructing a new airport; however, officials determined that building a new airport was the cheaper option. Not having to limit air service to Williston during construction at Sloulin Field would save revenue, and the city would gain from decommissioning the old airport and selling the land. The total cost of the project was $240 million, which was paid by the FAA, the state of
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
, and the city of Williston. A
groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are ...
ceremony took place on October 10, 2016, with several members of the state government in attendance. Procedural and weather-related problems delayed the start of construction to mid-2017. The airport opened to the public on October 10, 2019, with short-haul service to Minneapolis/St. Paul by
Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...
and Denver by
United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...
. Shortly after the airport's opening, both carriers began using larger regional jets accommodating up to 76 passengers on some flights as compared to smaller 50-seat planes used previously in Williston.


Infrastructure

The airport opened with one runway, 14/32, with dimensions of . A crosswind runway, 4/22, which measures , was opened on November 5, 2020 and is mainly intended for use by smaller aircraft. The terminal occupies and has four gates, three of which have
jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...
s. It can handle up to 350,000 passengers annually. In June 2020, there were 49 aircraft based at this airport: 42 single-
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...
, 5 multi-engine, and 2
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
. Currently, the FAA does not have any published aircraft operations data for this airport.


Access

Williston Basin International Airport is located about northwest of Williston. A road was built to connect the airport to the U.S. Route 85 truck bypass.


Airlines and destinations


Passenger

Delta Connection uses CRJ200s operated by SkyWest Airlines to Minneapolis. Sun Country Airlines uses Boeing 737-800s to Las Vegas. United Express uses CRJ200s operated by SkyWest Airlines to Denver.


Cargo


Statistics


Carrier shares


Top destinations


See also

*
List of airports in North Dakota This is a list of airports in North Dakota (a U.S. state), grouped by type and sorted by location. It contains all public-use and military airports in the state of North Dakota. Some private-use and former airports may be included where notable, s ...


References


External links

* * {{Williston, North Dakota Airports in North Dakota Buildings and structures in Williams County, North Dakota Transportation in Williams County, North Dakota Williston, North Dakota Airports established in 2019