North Dakota has been busy building a new international airport to replace its small and aging Williston Sloulin Field International Airport (ISN/KISN). The whole project cost $243 million to build, and it was a project “from the ground up.” The new airport is located about 10 miles northwest of Sloulin Field. The airport director said that it was the “fastest commercial airport relocation since World War II.” It took just 3 years to go from land to a beautiful airport.
This airport is way bigger than Sloulin Field (ISN/KISN). The booming oil and energy caused an increase in demand for the area. Increased demand for commercial airline and business aviation travel prompted the project to replace Sloulin Field (ISN/KISN). ISN did not reach FAA requirements to handle larger and heavier aircraft, which hold more passengers. Because of this, Williston set out to build a much larger airport that would allow for bigger airplanes and more passenger traffic.
The first commercial flight into XWA
The first commercial flight into Williston Basin International Airport (XWA/KXWA) took place yesterday, October 10, 2019. The flight was supposed to be a United flight from Denver (DEN/KDEN) (either UA4643 or UA4720), but due to delays in Denver because of weather, the first flight into XWA was a Delta flight from Minneapolis (MSP/KMSP) (DL4007). (Fun Fact, the pilot of DL4007 was a Williston native, Elliot Monson!)
Williston Basin International Airport and the FAA
The FAA did not grant the airport its operating certificate until the night before it was scheduled to open, October 9, 2019. Because of that, it was a frantic and rush to transfer staff and equipment from ISN to XWA.
What do I think of this?
I think this new airport (XWA) looks absolutely stunning! The design is beautiful and it looks so much bigger than ISN. The terminal is very roomy and modern-looking. I think Williston did a great job with this airport and I look forward to seeing new growth and developments happening at this airport!
Nice looking terminal! As with the rest of the country, quite a few north western airports have been rebuilding and or expanding their airports. Airports around me such as KBTM, KBZN, KHLN, KBIL, and KMSO are all doing the same.
Funny thing is I was actually planning on editing KISN for IF within the next few months, as it was one of the key airports for eastern Montana. Guess I’ll have to wait until the new airport is shown on Google maps (which will take forever, Google is really about updating their imagery in this area):-/
The aviation market in western U.S is truly expanding rapidly. KDEN (Denver) is spending 1.5B to renovate “The Great Hall” and add 40+ gates, KSLC (Salt Lake City) is building a whole new airport to open in 2020 (roughly 339 days), KGJT (Grand Junction/Walker Field) is building a new runway and starting the process to become and international airport. Each airport will be getting new destinations. KDEN and KSLC are looking at expanding their destinations in Asia, KGJT will probably be looking at Mexico or Canada (Hopefully both).
