Study gauges airport economic impact

Kalispell at the top in Montana ranking

The Kalispell City Airport ranks at the top of Montana's general aviation airports in providing an economic boost to its region, according to a recent Montana Department of Transportation study.

Indeed, the city airport stands up well even when rated in the same economic categories against the states' seven commercial airports. It would likely rank seventh out of eight in most economy-boosting categories -'significantly outperforming Butte's Bert Mooney Airport.

The Department of Transportation's study, which was released last month, extrapolated raw data about airport traffic into job and payroll numbers through various economic formulas.

"This shows how essential airports are to Montana's economy," Kalispell Airport Manager Fred Leistiko said.

The city airport has 73 planes based at it, with roughly 30 owned by businesses. According to the state study, the Kalispell airport averages roughly 43,000 operations a year. (Each take-off and each landing count as an "operation.")

Kalispell City Airport far surpassed its nearest competitor among general aviation airports for economic impact. The study calculated more than $10.1 million in total impacts to local payrolls as a result of having the airport here. The next closest was the Ravalli County Airport in Hamilton, with total payroll impacts of $4.2 million.

The study furthermore calculates that airport use generates a total of $24 million in spending by businesses servicing the Kalispell airport or its users. The comparable number for the Ravalli County Airport was $10.4 million.

While the study's figures are mostly extrapolations, Leistiko noted that the numbers for each commercial and general aviation airport are calculated the same way. Consequently, the rankings in created jobs and payrolls should remain the same regardless of how solid the actual numbers are, he contended.

"We still have the highest general aviation volume in the state. It puts us way up there with commercial airports. We're needed, and [the city airport] is used extensively by a lot of people," Leistiko said.

Cindi Martin, director of Glacier Park International Airport, pointed to a similar 2008 study done by the airport - which used 2006 raw data - that she believes used more accurate Flathead raw numbers than the state report.

Here are some figures from the state study:

n Total payroll impact for Glacier Park International was $27.8 million, which again placed it sixth among the seven primary commercial service airports in the state. The leader in this category was Great Falls International Airport, which had a payroll impact of $141.8 million.

n The state's formulas credit use of Glacier Park International Airport with creating another 54.5 jobs elsewhere in the Flathead, while crediting the city airport's use with creating an extra 51 jobs elsewhere.

n The state study credits people using Glacier Park airport's non-commercial flights with creating $837,800 in payroll in the Flathead - tying for fifth among the state's seven commercial airports in 2008.

Noncommercial 2008 flights into the city airport pumped $2.798 million into local payrolls.

That was first among Montana's general aviation airports and would have placed Kalispell second behind Bozeman if compared with commercial airports.

n Visitor-related payroll generated by Glacier Park International's commercial passengers contributed $6.575 million to local payrolls in 2008 - sixth among the state' seven commercial airports.

Meanwhile, Glacier Park International Airport's own study -'released last September -'showed these 2006 figures for the commercial airfield:

n 175,455 commercial passengers used the airport in 2006.

n About 286 people worked full-time, part-time or seasonally at the airport in 2006 to earn about $6.5 million in wages and were involved in almost $29.6 million in business revenue.

n Trickle-down effects of the airport contributed to 379 non-airport jobs and $24.3 million in business revenue, of which $7.8 million went to wages in 2006.