Glacier Park International Airport is in

Flathead County, Montana Flathead County is in the U.S. state of Montana. At the 2020 census, its population was 104,357, making it the state's fourth most populous county. Its county seat is Kalispell. Its numerical designation (used in the issuance of license pla ...

, United States, six miles northeast of

Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region ...

. The airport is owned and operated by the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority, a public agency created by the county in 1974. The airport's ICAO code was KFCA, and most airlines still use that code for reservations purposes. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

for the FAA and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tarif ...

, but Glacier Park International Airport is GPI to the FAA and FCA to the IATA (which assigned GPI to Guapi Airport in Colombia).

History

The airport was built in 1942 as Flathead County Airport, from which its IATA and original FAA and ICAO codes were derived. Airline flights operated by

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

began in 1950; however, passenger traffic was sparse for years. In 1970 the airport was designated as an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

and received its current name. In the 1970s and 1980s passenger traffic increased as

Hughes Airwest Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the wes ...

(previously Air West),

Western Airlines Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along ...

(which acquired Western), the original Frontier Airlines (1950–1986) and

Horizon Air Horizon Air Industries, Inc., operating as Horizon Air, is an American regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. Horizon Air and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon-opera ...

offered new jet service. Jetliners operated into the airport in the past include the

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maide ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

and Fokker F28. The 757 operated by Delta is the largest aircraft ever to have provided scheduled passenger service at the airport. The

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...

was upgraded in 1981, and further upgrades to the terminal,

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

s and other facilities occurred in the 1990s. Between 1974 and 1998 passenger traffic increased more than fivefold. Service to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, on

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon ...

(formerly

America West Airlines America West Airlines was a major American airline, founded in 1981, with service commencing in 1983, and having reached US$1 billion in annual revenue in 1989, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. At the time of its acquisition of US Airways, Amer ...

before it merged with US Airways) ended in 2007.

West Coast Airlines West Coast Airlines was an airline (then called a "local service" airline as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) linking small cities in the Pacific Northwest with larger cities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, California ...

served the airport in the 1960s with Fairchild F-27 turboprops flying to Spokane, Seattle and Great Falls before this carrier merged with

Bonanza Airlines Bonanza Air Lines was an airline (known at the time as a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the Western United States (and eventually Mexico) from 1945 until it merged with two other local service ai ...

and

Pacific Air Lines Pacific Air Lines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid 1940s under the name ...

to form Air West, which continued F-27 service from Kalispell. Air West was then renamed Hughes Airwest which in turn introduced

jet service. The original Frontier Airlines operated

s during the 1970s with a routing of Kalispell–Missoula–Bozeman–Salt Lake City–Denver–St. Louis. By the 1980s, Frontier was continuing to operate Boeing 737-200s with Kalispell–Billings–Denver flights. Cascade Airways operated

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

s (Metro III model) into FCA until it folded in 1986. In the 1990s,

, a subsidiary of

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the num ...

, flew Fokker F28 jets to Spokane and Seattle in addition to operating propjet service with de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8s,

Dornier 328 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffen ...

s and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners. Current Alaska Airlines service into the airport is operated by Horizon Air with

Bombardier Q400 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

propjets ,which is the largest and fastest member of the Dash 8 family of regional turboprop aircraft.

Facilities

The airport covers 1,525 acres (617 ha) and has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

s: 2/20 is 9,007 x 150 ft (2,745 x 46 m) and 12/30 is 3,510 x 75 ft (1,070 x 23 m). The airport holds a multitude of private aviation hangars, one commercial terminal, and an FBO to support the general aviation traffic. In the year ending January 1, 2007, the airport had 51,925 aircraft operations, average 142 per day: 70%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 21%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, 8% airline and 1% military. 159 aircraft were then based at this airport: 78% single-engine, 16% multi-engine and 3% jet and 3%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

. Delta operates mainline narrow-body jets and

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

operates regional jets using CRJ and

Embraer Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where ...

aircraft. Daily nonstop flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salt Lake City are operated year-round by both Delta and its regional affiliate. This is supplemented by seasonal/summer service to Atlanta on mainline aircraft and Los Angeles on E-175s operated by Compass Airlines. United Express operates daily nonstop jet service to Denver year-round on CRJ aircraft. During summer, it operates seasonal nonstop jet service to Chicago (six times a week) and San Francisco (daily). Allegiant Air operates A319s and A320s nonstop twice weekly to Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa as well as seasonal bi-weekly service to Oakland and Los Angeles. Horizon Air and SkyWest operating as Alaska Airlines flies

s and Embraer ERJ-E175s daily to Seattle and on a seasonal basis to Portland.

Airlines and destinations

Glacier Park International Airport from US2

Top destinations

References

External links