Business View Magazine Jan-2019

72 “Subsequently, land was donated to the Airport by a guy named Dick Logan,who ended up being the Airport Manager from 1927 through 1957,”Ploehn adds.“Shortly after his death in 1958, the Billings City Council renamed the airport, the Logan Airport, and in 1971, the name was updated to the Billings Logan International Airport.The first commercial service started showing up in the early 1930s; primarily Northwest Airlines and Inland Airlines– mostly for mail, but shortly thereafter, passenger service started.As time progressed and aircraft sizes increased, the Airport grew from 400 acres into 2,400 acres. So now,we have a 10,500-ft. runway, one small parallel runway for general aviation use, and a crosswind runway.” The Billings Logan Airport is owned by the City of Billings, and is the onlymunicipally-owned, commercial-service airport in Montana. BIL employs approximately 50 people and is completely self- sufficient; no City General Fund support has been received since 1975. Its commercial airlines include Alaska,with flights to Portland (OR) and Seattle/Ta- coma; Allegiant,with flights to Las Vegas, Phoenix/ Mesa, and seasonal Los Angeles; American Eagle, with flights to Dallas/Ft.Worth; Delta,with flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salt Lake City; United,with flights to Denver and seasonal Chicago; and Cape