Glacier Park International Airport - History

History

The airport was originally built in 1942 under the name Flathead County Airport. For many years, passenger traffic remained fairly low. In 1970, the airport was designated for international traffic and the current name was adopted. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, traffic picked up substantially, as Hughes Airwest (which previously operated as Air West), Western Airlines, Delta Airlines (which acquired Western), the original Frontier Airlines and Horizon Air offered new jet service. Past jet aircraft types operated from FCA include the Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-200, Boeing 757-200, Douglas DC-9-30 and Fokker F28.

The terminal was upgraded in 1981, and further major upgrades to the terminal, runways and other facilities occurred throughout the 1990s. Between 1974 and 1998, the passenger traffic increased more than fivefold.

Service to Phoenix, Arizona which was provided by US Airways (formerly America West Airlines before this airline merged with US Airways) was suspended in 2007. West Coast Airlines served the airport during the 1960s with Fairchild F-27 propjet flights to Spokane, Seattle and Great Falls before this carrier merged with Bonanza Airlines and Pacific Air Lines to form Air West which then continued to operate F-27 service from Kalispell. Air West subsequently became Hughes Airwest which then introduced Douglas DC-9-30 jetliner flights. The original Frontier Airlines operated Boeing 737-200 jetliner service in the 1970s with a routing of Kalispell-Missoula-Bozeman-Salt Lake City-Denver-St. Louis. By the 1980s, Frontier continued to operate Boeing 737-200 jet service from the airport with a routing of Kalispell-Billings-Denver. In the 1990s, Horizon Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, flew Fokker F28 jet service to Spokane and Seattle in addition to operating de Havilland DHC-8 "Dash 8", Dornier 328 and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop flights from the airport.