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Great Falls International Airport Breaks Record number of Passengers and Hopes to Add New Airline

By Rachel Ousley

Story Created: Jul 13, 2011 at 7:19 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 13, 2011 at 7:19 PM MDT

This last fiscal year that ended in June, the airport saw a recording breaking almost 329,550passengers. That's up 6.1% from last year. The airport is teaming up with the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce in hope to add a new airline and see those numbers soar even higher.

Accoding to Steve Malicott, President and CEO of the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, talks of adding a second low cost airline actually began last year. He says the airlines were originally looking at expanding into seven markets, but the high price of oil forced them to reduce that number to three and Great Falls was not chosen. However, hopes are high that this time around will be better.

A recent study shows Great Falls International Airport is suffering greatly because of cheaper tickets elsewhere. The airport is now the 8th most expensive market in the U.S. for an airport this size. Malicott says the airport is losing 80,000 passengers to other markets.

Some passengers we talked with are surprised the airport is seeing record breaking passenger volumes. Local resident, Kerri Pepke, says with the way the economy is she expected people to be traveling less. Tina Vasquez from Charlottesville, VA was flying out of Great Falls today. She says traveling is important to her family, but they are traveling less and taking shorter trips because of the economy.

At least for these women, traveling still plays an important role in their lives due to their family circumstances. Both are excited about the possibility of a new low cost airline. Vasquez really loves the Great Falls airport because of its size and relative calmness. She think a new airline would be great because it would provide more options. Pepke says she knows people traveling to other cities for cheaper airfare, so it would be nice to have cheaper options here in her hometown.

The increase in passengers has a lot to do with the availability of cheap airline tickets. Laura Tait, Deputy Director of Properties and Human Resources at the airport, says the airport has been seeing an increase in passengers since with addition of Allegiant, while passengers on main airlines have decreased.

Allegiant only travels to Mesa and Las Vegas from here. However, the new low cost airline would hopefully not only provide better service though more routes; it is also expected save local travelers $7 million a year.

The hope is that another low cost airline will make tickets more competitive, driving prices down by 20% and bring an additional 17,000 visitors each year to Great Falls. Tait says it’s a win-win situation for the whole community.

Current investors have already raised the majority of financial guarantee funds for a new airline. They are hoping to raise an additional $150,000. The Chamber of Commerce expects the new airline could be announced in spring 2012.


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Anonymous said on Sunday, Jul 17 at 6:36 PM

Nice story

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