PIERRE, S.D.(DRGNews)- For the fourth month in a row, over 1000 people flew out of the Pierre Regional Airport.

City commissioner Jamie Huizenga says June was the busiest month so far this year.

As a federal Essential Air Service airport, if Pierre goes over the 10,000 boardings number, it’s eligible for $1-million from the US Department of Transportation.

Denver Air Connection has the EAS contract for Pierre. They currently provide 12 round trip flights each week between Pierre and the Denver International Airport. That will go down to 10 weekly round trip flights to Denver starting Nov. 30, 2023, when they replace two Denver routes with two weekly round trip flights to Minneapolis. Huizenga says work continues behind the scenes to make those flights happen.

In 2022, the Pierre Regional Airport had more than 16,000 commercial enplanements.

Denver Air also holds the EAS contract for the Watertown Regional Airport. From there, people can fly to either Denver or Chicago.