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ECONOMIC INDICATORS 34 FINANCIAL CORNER 37 BUSINESS IS PERSONAL 41
Business Monthly
TRANSPORTATION
A SkyWest Airlines plane at Glacier Park International Airport. BEACON FILE PHOTO
The Future of Air
S e r v i c e i nT t h e F l a t h e a d
With more passengers flying to and from the valley, local businesses look into expanding flight availability
BY MOLLY PRIDDY
he future of the Flathead econ- the valley’s largest air travel hub, con- omy may not rest solely on the tinues to serve a consistently high num- shoulders of business owners ber of travelers, with more than 452,500 and the employment market, passing through the gates one way or the
but also on the wings of the planes fly- other in 2014.
could potentially add flights to the val- ley’s schedule.
“We’re also charged with air service development, but this takes a village,” Martin said.
Air traffic has increased at the air- port, she said, but the goal is to improve flight numbers in the shoulder seasons of fall and spring to bring them more in line with the burgeoning flights during the summer and winter.
Great facilities play a part in bringing in more flights, Martin said, but as more small airports try to attract such expan- sions from air carriers, it’s become important to have a revenue guarantee to help make adding flights more palat- able for the risk-averse airlines.
Since the Federal Aviation Agency prohibits airports from providing such guarantees, private groups like Glacier AERO are becoming staples for small airports across the country, she said.
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ing into and out of the valley.
The ability to fly the friendly skies
above Northwest Montana will also play a major role in the future of the econo- my’s stability, according to the panel of speakers at a recent Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
“We cannot exist – we’ll be dead in the water – if we don’t have access to markets and markets don’t have access to us,” Joe Unterreiner, the Kalispell chamber president, said.
Transportation to and from the Flat- head continues to be a focal issue for the chamber and many businesses through- out the valley. Businesses can start here, but if there isn’t a feasible, timely way to get their product out or customers in, they will likely stall, Unterreiner said.
Glacier Park International Airport,
Already this year, GPIA has seen more than 109,700 travelers, according to the state Department of Transporta- tion statistics, with increases in arriv- ing and boarding passengers in January, February and March compared to the same months of 2014’s record-breaking year.
And this year, the airport wraps up a nine-year, $32 million capital improve- ment project that has improved the infra- structure and appearance at the hub.
“We have pretty much rebuilt every piece of pavement out there and added more,” Cindi Martin, airport director at GPIA, said.
The hope is that better facilities will make the airport more attractive for current visitors, but the main goal is to be more attractive for air carriers that
JUNE 24, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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