Rapid City Regional Airport has seen more than a quarter of a million people pass through the commercial terminal over the summer, setting a new all-time record, said airport executive director Patrick Dame .

“The summer season has ended well and we are very happy with the number of passengers,” Dame said on Tuesday. “The extra flights added for the summer and the Sturgis rally have contributed to the good season, and we are especially grateful to our staff and tenants who have worked hard this summer through a difficult year. “

From June to August, 280,544 passengers passed through the airport, compared to the previous record in 2019 of 253,329 passengers, an increase of 11%. Dame said 141,382 passengers boarded commercial jets this summer, up from 124,339 in 2019. The number of arriving passengers also jumped to 139,162 from June to August, from 128,990 in 2019.

Air traffic in 2020 was severely affected by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, with only 112,705 total passengers served during the summer travel season.

Dame said the total number of passengers since the start of the year is 2.9% below the 2019 record with 457,051 total passengers in 2021 and 470,924 in 2019. In 2020, the number of passengers since the start of the year start of the year was 236,405.

Airlines operated 4,253 flights to and from Rapid City in 2021. From January 2020 to August 2020 there were 2,546 flights and from January 2019 to August 2019 the airport handled 3,478 flights.