August/September Business View Magazine

142 143 we can control is the cost of airlines being able to operate in our Airport, and we are, by far, the low- est cost airport for them to fly into.We also have a variable ease of entrance and exit for airlines in terms of leases, which means there is no penalty if there’s a fail.We really haven’t seen any fails, but it helps the airlines feel more comfortable to take that risk.” Because of BZN’s rapid growth– it has essen- tially doubled its passenger count over the last decade – the Airport has continued to expand and upgrade its infrastructure. “We’re building the largest parking garage in the State of Mon- tana,” Sprenger reports. “A $30 million parking garage to help support our rental cars, as well as paid parking.We’ll be building an additional $15 million, three or four gate concourse addition, here, to take us from eight gates to 11 or 12, with construction starting as early as next year.We just completed only one of eight new runways in the nation, since 2005. This new parallel runway is primarily for general aviation, separating our jet aircraft from our slower-moving aircraft that are used for our flight schools and general aviation.” Regarding that general aviation population, one thing that BZN does not do is build hangars for it. “We encourage private development,” Sprenger asserts. “Our goal is to make sure our infrastruc- ture will accommodate that growth, so we try hard to be ahead of that. So, as private develop- BOZEMAN YELLOWSTONE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ment is needed, the area is already in place for new hangars to be built.” Sprenger attributes much of BZN’s rapid growth to a considerable increase in commercial airline service. “Nine years ago, we had four destinations, nationally, that were year-round, daily, and we had four seasonal destinations,” he explains. “As of today, we’re nine destinations with year-round, daily service, and we have another seven destina- tions on a seasonal basis. So, we’ve seen signifi- cant changes in our airline service that benefits both the tourism economy, as well as the local business economy.When we look at the year- round destinations, at first glance, many people will look at our Airport and say ‘Oh, your success is because of Big Sky and Yellowstone Nation- al Park.’ Yet, we also see our shoulder seasons, our fall and springtime, are growing every bit as much and, in fact, the local originating passen- ger growth has grown at the same pace as the inbound growth of tourists and people coming to visit the area.” If the present rate of growth continues, Sprenger insists that BZN will be ready for it. “We have a lot of room for expansion,” he avers. “We’ll be looking to develop the north side of the air- port that serves the new parallel runway that be-