Latest news with #RapidCityRegionalAirport
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wings of Wonder: Accessibility for all who want to travel
Rapid City, S.D. (KELO) — The Rapid City Regional Airport partnered with local organizations for Wings of Wonder. The event's goal is to help people with disabilities easily navigate the airport from the moment they park their car until they find their seat on the plane. Gov. Rhoden talks first 100 days in office The Rapid City Regional Airport has steps in place to make sure everyone feels welcome. Sunflower lanyards help identify people with hidden disabilities who might need the same assistance. 'We wanted to get involved in that early, many airports across the country are now involved in that, it all looks the same. To the traveling public, when they show up and they've got that lanyard on, it's a cue to those folks who are working here that they may need some extra care,' Rapid City Airport director Patrick Dame said. These lanyards will help airport employees in baggage and the terminal, along with TSA members so they can assist those with both visible and hidden disabilities. 'They're going to take things a little bit slower in the explanation process. So sometimes with checking in, that helps. Trying to get your seats and your baggage all checked in, that is a stressful process for someone with disabilities,' Disability Awareness and Accessibility Committee Member Tony Russell said. 'You know, from the airport's vantage point we need to be here for everybody. And if there are folks that need a little extra out of it, we want to make sure we're getting them the experience that they need,' Dame said. The Rapid City Disability Awareness and Accessibility Committee works to make sure everyone in the air has access in everyday life. 'Advocating for those people with disabilities and helping make some of these processes easier on us so we can enjoy reaping that, not only everything the beautiful Black Hills has to offer but we can get out and travel and see what other great things are out there,' Russell said. To be able to participate in the Sunflower Lanyard Program, all you have to do is ask an employee for one near the rentals before starting your journey. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Airport officials ‘disappointed' with failed funding bill
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Rising construction costs have created a challenge for regional airports in Rapid City and Sioux Falls to fund projects on their own. Senate Bill 127 would have taken some of the burden off. The bill would have allocated money to help fund projects like Sioux Falls Regional Airport's concourse expansion and Rapid City Regional Airport's terminal expansion. 'We felt that was a good fit and responsible for the state to participate as well to some extent,' Sioux Falls Regional Airport executive director Dan Letellier said. The bill failed on the House floor Monday with 37 yeas, 32 nays and one legislator excused. The legislation required a two-thirds majority vote to pass. Body found near Hill City is missing woman It's left airport officials with some tough decisions to make. Sioux Falls Regional Airport was hoping to move ahead with its $120 million plan to design a new concourse. It would add gates and ensure airfares don't go up. 'That was certainly a key component of our funding plan. And so, we have to decide do we try to take on more of that project ourselves with additional debt?' Letellier said. Rapid City is in the middle of its $222 million terminal expansion project. 'It's a disappointment,' Rapid City Regional Airport executive director Patrick Dames said. 'This definitely is going to slow our project down going forward into the future. We're in a position where we have to move forward.' South Dakota airports are public entities, but are limited in what funding they can receive and what they can charge. 'Airports are kind of like the mall,' Dames said. 'Basically, we are the infrastructure. The airlines are your anchor stores that come and operate in there. So, when it comes to what it is that we as an airport can charge, we're really limited in what we can charge.' The outcome is also disappointing to some travelers. 'I've traveled a lot of places, and I would travel a lot out of Sioux Falls, so I consider it a real asset to the city. I believe it would be even more of an asset with the appropriate funding,' Julie Deans said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SD airports asking for $30 million from the state
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) –South Dakota's two major regional airports are both looking at completing major multi-phase projects that would expand their services and each airport is looking to the state to help in funding those expansions. Sioux Falls Regional Airport Executive Director Dan Letellier said the Sioux Falls airport has seen significant growth over the years and will only keep growing in the future. There currently isn't a bill or budget request for 30 million dollars, but Letellier says they plan on the bill being summited to the legislature within the next couple of days. The last time the legislature allocated funds to airports was in 2024 with SB 144, which allocated $10 million in funding to support airport terminal projects across the state. 'The number of passengers flying in and out of the airport has grown at least 3% a year, every year, for the last 20 years,' Letellier said. 'It's typically mirrored the local population growth, so as more people have moved into the community that's translated in the same amount of increase in passenger traffic.' Committee sends school choice bill to 41st day Letellier said last year the Sioux Falls Regional Airport had almost a 7% increase in the number of people flying out of Sioux Falls, with 2024 setting a new record of 1.4 million passengers flying in and out of the airport. He added most of the state flies out of either the Sioux Falls airport or the Rapid City Regional Airport. 'Literally half of South Dakota, on the eastern side of the state, flies out of Sioux Falls, over 62% of all the travelers in the state fly in and out of Sioux Falls,' Letellier said. 'Between Sioux Falls and Rapid City, 96% of people traveling commercially fly out of those two airports.' Letellier said with the increasing number of passengers they are running out of room. 'The concourse, which, which holds the all the aircraft gates, we're really maxed out on the number of gates we have and also the hold room space associated with that for people to wait to get on and off the aircraft,' said Letellier. Letellier said they are well into designing a new concourse that would aid with not only the volume of traffic that they have right now, but also allow them to continue to grow into the future. 'It would add four additional gates,' Letellier said. 'We're looking at a project to add this concourse of well over $100 million and that's a big price tag and it kind of comes right on the tale of completing a new $60 million parking garage, which was funded solely with airport reserves.' Letellier said the main reason for these additions is to ensure that airfares don't go up, he added if flights get too expensive to fly out of Sioux Falls people might drive to Omaha or Minneapolis to be able to get their flights instead. Letellier said they are asking for $30 million from the state to help with all the airports in the state that have terminal-related projects. 'It would be distributed by the State Aeronautics commission based on applications that are submitted by the airports and they will kind of determine how if the full amount is appropriated,' Letellier said. 'They will work with airports on what their requests are and how that funding is distributed.' 'We are hoping to get our fair share,' Letellier said. 'I'm not saying that we want half of that money, but we'd like at least a third of that to come this way.' Letellier said Rapid City's going through with their own multi-phase project that costs well into $200 million. He added the Sioux Falls Regional Airport itself will borrow funds, issue bonds to cover a pretty substantial portion of the project, but they also believe that the state plays a role in helping with this project as well. 'Airports in the state generate over a billion dollars a year in annual economic impact, either bringing tourists in the community, businesses into the community,' Letellier said. 'Sioux Falls alone has more than 500 million a year in annual economic benefit to the community and is a major sales tax generator.' 'The state benefits a great deal from people flying in and out of the community and we really think that the state should, should participate in some manner and that's, that's why we're encouraging the legislature to look at participating,' Letellier said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
