Airport plans five years out - and beyond
When you see a price tag of $410,000 next to "two brooms" on Glacier Park International Airport's new five-year capital improvement plan, don't for a moment think the airport is on some wild and crazy spending spree.
Be assured that the brooms in question are snow brooms and that without them, nothing with wings takes off or lands during snowstorms.
The airport's official five-year plan has been projected out through 2013, but its last three years are more a wish list than a concrete plan, according to airport Director Mike Daigle.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires that all commercial airports file five-year plans. Before Glacier Park International Airport's plan was submitted, however, it first had to pass a vote of its seven-member airport authority board. That phase was completed in May. It's now on to the FAA.
"For 2006, we're asking for funds for a Taxiway B extension - a necessary element of our just-completed runway expansion. And then, of course, there are those new snow brooms," Daigle said. "In 2007, we are planning on spending the bulk of our money on apron expansion for general aviation and most of the balance on pavement maintenance.
"Believe it or not, we have the equivalent of 46 miles of paved surface here and we are required by the feds to keep them a proper state of repair. Taxiway rehab services are necessary to extend the active life of the runway."
On the agenda for the next few years, Daigle said, is terminal ramp expansion with an eye toward the future installation of one or two new gates. Years 2011 and 2012 - the dream years - show a definite leaning toward actual terminal expansion.
In between these years is a plan to move the air cargo roads away from their current site near corporate and general aviation. This is currently being projected on the assumption that future Homeland Security regulations may require the separation of cargo activities from everything else. The 2008 request for an air cargo road and ramp - costing about $5.5 million - is being floated with this in mind.
The largest share of money for these projects comes from the federal government, which has established a supply formula based on "entitlement money." This is calculated on the number of planes using an airport. Use of this money is limited to construction and infrastructure improvements and cannot be spent on operational costs such as salaries and benefits.
"However, no matter what project an airport undertakes, the federal government will never pay 100 percent of it," Daigle said. "The balance must come from the airport itself in the form of the sponsor share."
Sponsor money can be generated by airport revenue sources such as parking, terminal rental fees for retailers, fuel fees and landing fees. In addition, every airport receives money from the Passenger Facility Charge.
"When someone buys an airline ticket, for the first two airports they travel to, they pay a PFC.," Daigle said. "This is taken out by the airlines and eventually passed along to the individual airport, which can then use it for facility improvements."
"If the current year-to-date growth remains on track, we will exceed 200,000 outbound passengers," Daigle said. "That will be a double-digit percentage growth over 2004, which was a record year in itself."
With a proposed budget requiring in the neighborhood of $19 million in construction and repairs in the next half-decade, it makes perfect sense to hope those passenger numbers keep right on rising.
Reporter George Kingson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at gkingson@dailyinterlake.com