Airport traffic dips in August

The Daily Inter Lake

The number of passengers -17,000 - who flew into and out of Glacier Park International Airport in August was down from the same month in 2008 by 38 percent.

Part of the decline is because the airport was closed for 12 days in August for runway rebuilding, but airport director Cindi Martin said air carriers also have reduced the number of flights nationwide.

The airlines have been cutting back for two years. The Air Transport Association, the trade group for big U.S. airlines, estimates that carriers will offer fewer than 12.5 billion seat-miles in the fourth quarter this year. That's not much more than the low of 12.1 billion late in 2001, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Travel is down nationwide," Martin said.

She said the decrease in local air travelers probably is a combination of runway closures and fewer travelers overall. In September 2008, there were 335 departures from Glacier Park International; for September 2009, there are only 289 scheduled departures, a 13.7 percent decrease.

The airport also tracks the number of flights between city pairs, such as Salt Lake and Kalispell.

In September 2008, there were 148 departures to Salt Lake. This month, there are 130 departures scheduled. However, the number of departures to Denver and Seattle have remained the same and there was an increased number of flights to Las Vegas.

July so far has been the busiest month with 26,320 passengers at Glacier Park International Airport. This was a 1.7 percent decrease from July 2008.

In 2008, 186,507 people flew into and out of Glacier Park International Airport. So far in 2009, 112,792 have used the airport.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.