Bismarck carrier wants to serve oil patch towns
Bismarck carrier wants to serve oil patch towns
By ROBYN ROHDE
BHG NEWS SERVICE
Passenger air service in New Town and Parshall? It’s still up in the air, but looking like a possibility.
A Bismarck firm offering charter service for 40 years is testing the interest in flights in and out of the oil patch.
Bakken Air, a division of Executive Air Taxi, already began service between Bismarck and Williston this month, but Project Manager Chris Susie says regular flights to towns like New Town and Parshall are being explored.
“We run on demand charter service to almost all airports in North Dakota, including Parshall and New Town,” he said. “We are also looking to expand to the possibility of scheduled runs. If enough entities or companies approached us that have regular demand to shuttle people, then we would put together some kind of shuttle.”
If enough people want it, it wouldn’t just be service at any price, but “reasonably affordable,” noted Susie, when you compare it to mileage reimbursements these days.
Flying offers many incentives when looking at time and money. It takes four hours and six minutes for the average person to drive between Williston and Bismarck. But Bakken Air can offer a time-saving 56 minute flight. Also with the average price of gas, a trip between Bismarck and Williston would cost roughly $239 but a flight would range around $358 round trip.
