Jan. 15—The Rapid City Regional Airport set a new record for passenger enplanements in 2024 with 427,325 passengers boarding flights. The number exceeds the previous record of 352,388 set in 2023, representing an increase of 21.3%.
"This kind of growth is really unprecedented and shows just how important air travel has become for our region. It's a huge boost to our local economy, and we couldn't have done it without our amazing passengers. I'm also so proud of our incredible team here at Rapid City Regional Airport — they work tirelessly daily to keep things running smoothly and safely," said Patrick Dame, executive director of Rapid City Regional Airport.
The airport's busiest month for passenger boardings was July with 49,973, closely followed by 49,683 in August. Both months are popular for tourism in the Black Hills, and thousands visit the area for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August.
The slowest month was February, with 21,107 enplanements. Every month in 2024, however, saw more passengers board plains in Rapid City than its 2023 counterpart. Deplanements in the city increased consistently as well.
The airport celebrated several landmarks in 2024 aside from the record number of passengers moving through it.
Two new direct routes debuted: Allegiant Airlines began service to Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida in May 2024 and flights direct to Los Angeles in June.
The airport now offers direct flights to several major cities, including Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Orlando, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona.
A new deputy director, Brian Bishop, came on board. Bishop previously served as the deputy airport director of Operations and Maintenance at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. His career also includes positions at Salt Lake City International, SkyWest Airlines and Great Western Aviation Flight Services FBO.
Turo, a web-based car-sharing service, became available to travelers last summer.
The airport also continues to work on expansion to parking and a terminal expansion.
The Rapid City Regional Airport Board approved an item last year to allow engineers Mead & Hunt to design a new parking lot, which will add up to 500 additional parking spaces to the existing capacity. The project, estimated to cost $6 million, comes in response to the airport's consistent increase in passenger enplanements.
Contact Shalom Baer Gee at [email protected]
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