ND airports see 52% decrease in passengers; lowest since 2003 North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports finished 2020 down 619,476 passengers or a 52% decrease from the previous year. The numbers were the lowest passenger count the state has recorded since 2003. Written By: James Miller | × The Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport is continuing their project to expand the runway. (File Image / The Dickinson Press) North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports finished 2020 down 619,476 passengers or a 52% decrease from the previous year. The numbers were the lowest passenger count the state has recorded since 2003. Businesses and nonprofits suffered greatly as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the United States and the world. One of the industries that took the hardest hit during the pandemic was tourism and recreation, as evident in a new report by the North Dakota Department of Tourism that outlined the loss of more than $1 billion through visitation and visitor spending in the state. At the onset of the pandemic local, state and federal government mandates and restrictions began being imposed across the United States and by April passenger numbers into and out of North Dakota witnessed an immediate 95% decline.