June 2, 2022

Plenty of numbers are up at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.

There’s passenger traffic, which set a monthly record in April after setting an all-time record in March.

There are airfares, which increased 33 percent earlier this year, the biggest jump since the federal government began keeping records in the 1960s.

And the numbers came in high for a plan that would add a parking garage to the airport too.

There ended up being two bidders for the work, which would start next year.

Airport officials had hoped by giving a lot of lead time that contractors might bid more competitively because they had a longer time frame to secure materials. Even so, the airport estimated $52 million for the ramp with several extras included, such as a skywalk connecting the ramp to the terminal. That was 20 percent more than originally planned.

As it turned out, the lowest bid was $54 million from Sioux Falls-based Henry Carlson Construction — and that was just for the core parking garage — four levels and just under 1,000 stalls. Adding the skywalk would have been an extra $9 million.

“What we found out is everybody is fairly booked already for 2023,” executive director Dan Letellier said. “We had expected prices to come in at least 20 percent above what they normally would be, and unfortunately they came in more like 30 to 35 percent higher than expected.”

The skyway could be added later and was designed with that in mind, he said.

The airport had not planned to borrow money for the ramp and instead fund it out of reserves. The Sioux Falls Airport Authority will hold a special meeting next week to decide on how to move forward.

“I can’t speak for the board, but I think we’ve been on quite a journey for quite a few years to even get to this point, so even though it’s more than we cared for it to be, I think we’d likely move forward with the parking garage,” Letellier said.

The airport also has learned it will need more short-term parking — at least 300 to 400 spaces — that will be used during construction while other spaces are displaced, he said.

And this likely won’t be the only major construction project the airport will address. A master plan is being done that’s expected to conclude that the concourse needs to be expanded.

“We are in need of at least two to three more gates and maybe additional concrete for overnight aircraft parking,” Letellier said. “We’re going through a master plan update right now that will help steer us into the concept of how we would expand that.”

Passengers, airfares are up

More than 102,000 people flew in or out of the airport in April.

“We had almost 40 percent higher than last year, and it was a record for any April,” Letellier said. “And it’s typically one of our slowest months in the year.”

March drew 112,000 people flying in or out.

And while the airlines haven’t released May numbers yet, “we’re right in the same path we’ve been going on,” Letellier said.

That might be in jeopardy, though. While June and July travel still look strong, airfares are at historic highs.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 33 percent month-over-month increase in airfares from March to April — the largest one-month hike since it started recording data in 1963, Letellier said.

He ran some searches and found the lowest available fare for travel in July out of Sioux Falls averaged about $550 — not counting flights with no-frills airlines Frontier or Allegiant.

“So that’s buying your ticket three weeks in advance, flying over on a Saturday night … and that’s considerably higher than what we’ve seen in many years,” he said. “Allegiant has nine destinations, and they were about $320 round trip, so that’s taking the fare the same week of travel and adding in their cost for a checked bag, carry-on and reserved seat, so you add usually $100.”

He also compared the fares to Fargo, which came in at $578, and Omaha, which was just under $500.

“Omaha was about $60 less round trip on average … and Southwest was almost identical to the other average fares,” Letellier said. “And that’s the lowest available. Quite often, it’s probably more expensive than that depending on where you want to travel and what fares are available, so if you haven’t purchased tickets yet this summer, I think people will be surprised.”

It also might affect travel later in the year, he said.

“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of pent-up demand. People have made up their mind they’re going to take that trip. Maybe they haven’t gone anywhere the last two years, and they are this summer. But this fall might be a different story.”