Missoula Airport Sets Another Record in 2019

Like Montana’s other major airports, Missoula International continued smashing commercial airline passenger records in 2019.

For the first time the airport west of town handled more than 900,000 people in a calendar year, and now the soaring numbers have a symbolic parallel at the west end of the terminal these days.

Dozens of black steel columns point to the sky, installed in the past month or so, are connected with more and more horizontal beams by the day.

A new, larger passenger terminal is on the rise, underlining the need to keep up with the growing airport traffic, even as temporary accommodations grow crowded and cramped.

Earlier this month Missoula’s airport authority board approved the biggest chunk of funding for above-ground construction of the $68-million southern concourse, dubbed the “South Paw” because it jags from the current east-west configuration toward the Bitterroot Valley and because, well, this is Grizzly country.

The $36 million piece will allow general contractor Martel Construction to build the shell and install many of the innards, including wiring, plumbing and the like. The concourse is still two years from completion, but things are going swimmingly so far — especially for January.

“Steel assembly is well underway and in progress,” Tim Damrow, the airport’s projects manager, said Tuesday in an illustrated update at the Missoula County Airport Authority’s monthly board meeting. “It’s a completely different worksite” from the first of January.

Next, Damrow said, you’ll start to see the floors of the high-rise concourse going in, with elevators and vertical circulation.

“And then from there, kind of off to the races,” Damrow said.

When completed, the three-story South Paw concourse will have five passenger gates, with room for more; an observation area, and other amenities, all designed to “reflect the local geography, landscape and beauty of Western Montana and its valleys, rivers and mountains,” according to the project’s guiding principles.

Most of the demolition and foundation work was completed in 2019 where security and gate access used to be.

The former west end of the terminal is gone, and the middle section now houses temporary security gates and greeting areas, making for smaller, more cramped quarters. It became an issue at peak departure and arrival times last summer, and something that’s bound to be compounded as flights are added and airliner sizes increase this year.

Airport officials on Tuesday released the numbers of commercial passengers handled last year, and they told a familiar story.

The 907,777 people boarding and getting off commercial airliners set a record for the sixth year in a row, and airport director Cris Jensen said a similar 7 percent increase is expected in 2020.

The number was up from 848,444 in 2018, the first year that Missoula topped 800,000.

Commercial air travel growth is a nationwide phenomenon and Montana’s major airports reflect the trend. Bozeman Yellowstone International set a record for the 10th straight year in 2019 with 1.57 million passengers passing through its terminal, a 17-percent increase. Billings, Montana’s second-busiest airport, set a high mark for the second year in a row at 950,000.

Kalispell’s Glacier International Park and Helena Regional also reported record numbers.

The Missoula airport is getting close to doubling the volume of traffic it had in 2000, when roughly 460,000 passengers went through the airport terminal.

“The continued growth of passengers into and out of the Missoula International Airport is a reflection of the positive economic health and growth of tourism in the greater Missoula area,” said Cris Jensen, airport director, in a release. “We continue to see increased competition in our marketplace, which has brought lower airfares for our customers.”

Jensen said 2020 looms as another record year with added connections and larger mainline aircraft sent to Missoula by Alaska and America airlines for some flights.

Alaska Airlines begins Los Angeles service on March 19 and on May 21 will begin sending larger airplanes on two of its four daily Seattle flights.

Frontier Airlines service to Denver restarts April 14, the earliest date yet.

Allegiant Airlines resumes service to Oakland on May 14 and to Los Angeles on June 5.

American Airlines’ flights between Missoula and Chicago will restart June 4, the same day American’s current Dallas service is upgraded to larger mainline aircraft for the summer.

Also on June 4, United Airlines resumes Chicago and San Francisco service, and flights to and from Los Angeles three days later.

And Delta Air Lines will again add seasonal service to Atlanta to its regular schedule on June 14.

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