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BIG SKY, BIG GROWTH

Tourism, Population Growth Prompt Expansions Of Montana Airports

BY DAVID WARD

Above: Set to open in April, the new South Concourse at Missoula Montana Airport will feature hold rooms with amenities such as charging stations, Wi-Fi, and windows with electro-chromatic glazing and tinting that offer spectacular views of the Montana landscape.

Driven by a rapid recovery in tourism combined with general business growth as more people and companies move to Montana’s wideopen spaces, Missoula Montana Airport (MSO) and Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) have both embarked on major terminal expansions to add gates and improve the passenger experience.

Missoula Montana Airport

Like many older airports, MSO found that steady annual passenger growth during the past decade left it struggling with a pre-9/11 design that had too many amenities and more space than necessary located pre-security.

“Our terminal was maybe the right size, but the space was all in the wrong places,” says Brian Ellestad, MSO airport director. “It was small and there was really no room to expand.”

By the middle of the last decade airport officials were actively working on a solution and in 2018 broke ground the new MSO South Concourse, the first part of a two-phase, $110 million project.

Expected to be completed in April 2022, the South Concourse will increase the total MSO terminal square footage by more than 50 percent to about 153,000 square feet, while also boosting the number of gates for carriers.

“Currently we have seven [aircraft] parking spots and that will increase to eight when the first phase is completed,” Ellestad said.

One of the major goals of the South Concourse project is to enhance the in-terminal experience for passengers by providing views of the breathtaking Montana scenery that surrounds the airport.

“We live in the mountains, so we want people to see that,” Ellestad said, adding the project design features windows with electro-chromatic glazing and tinting so the airport won’t need to have shades. “Not only will it provide views in our hold rooms, it’s also going to be a cost savings because we don’t have to have as much heating. We’ll also have a pre-security viewing area, so you’ll be able to watch the runway from inside the terminal.”

The improvement to the hold rooms include more charging stations, better wi-fi and digital signage. When completed the terminal will have three fireplaces and the steel beams inside will all have wood accents.

“Our architect would call it ‘Montana modern’,” says Ellestad. “It a mixture of steel, wood and concrete that is board form, so it’s low maintenance but looks like wood.”

MSO also used this opportunity to revamp its concession programs, bringing in new concessionaire Faber, Coe and Gregg, who quickly lured local brands KettleHouse Brewing Company and Black Coffee Roasting to the airport.

Ellestad praises Faber, Coe and Gregg for engaging the Missoula population to find the most popular food and beverage options and then working with those locations to bring Montana flavors to MSO. “Even though they’re national they really focused on those local brands,” he says.

Once complete, MSO will have a pre-security Black Coffee Roasting restaurant. Black Coffee Roasting will also have a second location post-security, joining two other restaurants that will operate under the KettleHouse Brewing umbrella.

Even as the South Concourse nears completion, MSO is already laying the groundwork for Phase Two, which will add more gates and improve and expand the baggage claim and rental car areas. That phase is expected to be completed in 2024 or 2025.

Above: Among the features on the redesigned terminal at Missoula Montana Airport is a new observation room and fireplaces that will provide warmth as well as sense of place for travelers to the area.

“With the second phase we’ll go from four to six bridges, plus two ground boarding gates, so eight in total,” Ellestad says. “When that’s finished, we’ll end up with around 200,000 square feet, and that’s really the size we’ll need going forward.”

With 2021 passenger traffic nearly on pace to match the previous record set in 2019, Ellestad says he is confident demand will be there for all add the added space. But he says passengers are already praising many of the changes that took place early in the construction, including moving the TSA checkpoints, which made the airport far more user friendly.

Below: When it is completed in 2024, the terminal expansion as Glacier Park International Airport will nearly triple the airport’s square footage and feature highceilings and plenty of windows to enhance the passenger experience.

Bottom: The terminal expansion at Glacier Park International Airport will include curbside design elements such as wood, stone and glass that provide a welcome first impression for the tourists that drive much the passenger volume at the airport.

Glacier Park International Airport

Located in Kalispell in the northwest part of Montana, Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) has long been the gateway to one of the country’s most scenic national parks.

Because the area was so tourist driven, FCA found that passenger volume peaked during summer tourist season and dropped off in other months. “We’d go from around 15,000-20,000 enplanements in April up to 70,000 enplanements in August,” says FCA Director Rob Ratkowski. “And when we were experiencing these high-high peaks our building was just getting overcrowded.”

In recent years, traffic during the peak months continued to climb, but passenger volumes also rose during other months as more people were attracted to the area for skiing and other winter and spring activities.

FCA’s total annual enplanements went from about 270,000 in 2017 to an expected 400,000-plus enplanements in 2021, remarkable growth considering the impact of the pandemic on tourism in other parts of the country.

By early 2020, FCA had finalized a new expanded design and began moving forward on a $100 million project that will add 125,000 square feet of space, nearly tripling the size of the terminal.

But just as officials were poised to start soliciting financing, the pandemic put the project on hold. “We were a week away from breaking ground but fortunately we hadn’t spent any money,” Ratkowski said. “We hunkered down and waited until we got back to our 2017 passenger counts.”

By the fall and winter of 2020, the visitors were back and FCA again moved forward on obtaining financing that now includes TSA grant money, user fees as well as loan secured through one of Kalispell’s local banks.

While the terminal expansion won’t be finished until 2024, current design plans call for additional gates as well as added square footage for TSA operations and passengers. All told the airport will have tripled in size by the time the project is complete.

“We’re going to have bigger hold rooms, more space for baggage claim and a metergreeter lobby, which we haven’t had since it got sacrificed for the TSA checkpoint,” Ratkowski says. “There’s also a planned restaurant and bar upstairs and a lot more circulation throughout the terminal.”

The expansion project will grow the number of gates from six to seven, with the potential to add one more if travel numbers continue to grow. As for the interior design, Ratkowski says, “We’re going to have a lot of glass, a lot of high ceilings and a lot of wood.”

While the formal completion of the expansion project is still a few years away, FCA has begun to outline the parameters for an upgraded concessions program and has brought in a concessions consultant to determine the best ways to enhance the passenger experience and drive revenues.

“It’s a little early,” Ratkowski says, “but we do have plans for local brands and several businesses in the area have already expressed some interest.”