February 29, 2016
The newly built terminal for an airport in the north-central region of North Dakota first went into service. This airport, which is located two miles (3.2 kilometers) north of the city of Minot, dates back to the 1920s. Originally known as the Port of Minot, its first airstrip was developed on a 20-acre (8.1 hectares) tract in the southern portion of the present-day property of Minot International Airport (assigned airport code MOT by the International Air Transport Association).
The inauguration of Minot International Airport’s current terminal was highlighted in an article written by Robert Nordstrom and appearing in the May/June 2016 issue of Airport Improvement magazine. “After approximately five years of planning, design and construction, MOT’s new facility leaped into operation on February 29 (Leap Day, in case you missed the shameless pun),” noted Nordstrom. “At 121,000 square feet [11,200 square meters], the new terminal is nearly four times the size of the airport’s old facility and is designed to serve the community’s needs well into the future.” (The accompanying photo of the new terminal was taken in 2022.)
The need to have a terminal that could accommodate far more airline passengers than before was rooted in Minot’s considerable growth in population and in particular the massive influx of workers making their way to North Dakota because of the Bakken oil boom. Andrew Solsvig, who was the airport’s director from July 2009 to March 2016, spelled out some of the ways in which the previous terminal was ultimately not able to handle an ever-increasing number of passengers.
“We had people parking in ditches or on grass, wherever they could find a spot,” recounted Solsvig in comments that were included in Nordstrom’s article. “Our holdrooms, at times, would reach capacity and we would have to halt security operations until passengers boarded. Sometimes, two flights would board simultaneously out of one gate: One flight would use the jet bridge and the other would leave out of the same door, descend onto the ramp and board a regional jet.” Solsvig added, “We had to do something, because the oil boom had changed everything.” (That older terminal was demolished in November 2016.)
Minot International Airport is North Dakota’s third busiest airport. This non-hub primary public use airport is owned and operated by the city of Minot.
Photo Credit: WeaponizingArchitecture (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
Additional information on Minot International Airport is available at https://www.motairport.com/DocumentCenter/View/84/Master-Plan-Update-Appendix-F
For more information on airports in North Dakota, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_North_Dakota
Transportation History 
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