April snowstorms led to fewer airline passenger boardings for the month due to larger than normal airline cancellations rates, according to the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission.

Still, North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted 76,553 airline passenger boardings during April, a 23% increase from the 62,168 boardings the state experienced in April 2021. The number was about 17% below April 2019’s pre-pandemic passenger count of 92,063.

Of 190 scheduled departures from Minot International Airport in April, 36 were canceled, for an 18.9% cancellation rate, the highest rate in the state. The average statewide airline departure cancellation rate for the month was 9.6%. April has been historically in the 1-3% range for a statewide cancellation rate, the aeronautics commission reported.

“April was a challenging month for our airports and passengers particularly in central and western North Dakota, as they experienced an increased amount of delays and cancellations due to multiple major snowstorms.” said Kyle Wanner, executive director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. “Our airports did an incredible job in keeping up with snow removal operations to alleviate the impacts to the traveling public as best as possible. That being said, we look forward to improved weather conditions as we move into the summer months.”

Minot saw 10,149 passenger boardings in April, up 11.3% from a year ago but down 20.4% from 2019. Year-to-date boardings are up 37% in Minot and nearly 44% statewide from 2021.