Glacier Park International Airport was awarded a federal grant in early August to fund direct flights to and from Los Angeles.
The $200,000 Small Community Air Service Development Program grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will be combined with $60,000 raised locally to pay for on-the-ground costs, including landing fees, according to GPI Airport Director Cindi Martin. The grant is supposed to be used within a year, but Martin said that timeline could be extended.
“We don’t have any of the particulars at this time,” she said.
Allegiant Air wrote a letter of support when the airport was applying for the grant this spring and it is currently looking at how to fit the Kalispell to Los Angeles flights into its schedule. Martin said the air carrier is currently having problems with space at LAX and those issues would have to be resolved before flights could begin.
Martin said direct flights to Southern California would be a welcome addition to Glacier Park International. Currently, direct flights are offered to Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver and Oakland, with seasonal flights to Chicago and Atlanta.
“We have a lot of traffic from the L.A. basin and having a direct flight would really open up that market even more,” she said.