Business View Magazine Jan-2019

74 Air, an Essential Air Service commuter airline,which operates nonstop flights with a Cessna 402 prop aircraft to Glasgow, Glendive, Havre, Sidney, andWolf Point, all in Montana. BIL's cargo airlines include FedEx Express, and UPS Airlines.“Our Airport is really a regional hub for eastern Montana and northernWyoming,” says Ploehn.“So, a lot of stuff is shipped through this Airport for the region.When the North Dakota oil fields were going full bore, just about everything that needed to go there, came in air freight through Billings.Nobody in the state is close to our freight numbers; we’re bringing in about 35,000 tons of freight a year.That was last year’s numbers and this year’s numbers are up by 20 percent, so we’re serv- ing a fairly large area.” In addition, about 150 general aviation aircraft call Billings Logan, home.And, like many regional, GA airports, Ploehn says there is a waiting list for hangar space.“We definitely have a hangar short- age,”he admits.“We have the land available for han- gar development - it’s just that the City, itself, is not in the hangar development business. If someone wanted to come in and build a row of T-hangars, I’m sure they could fill them up.The Airport has devel- oped the hangar sites; we’d do the ground infra- structure and then we’d lease parcels to those folks and they can build their own hangar.” The Airport is also home to several “top notch” aeronautical businesses, Ploehn states.“We have an avionics company called Aerotronics. People from all over the world get their avionics done here.We have a really good FBO, Edwards Jet Center.They’ve got a couple of large hangars that will accommo- date up to a GulfstreamV.We have an aircraft up- holstery business,Aero Interiors, here, as well.We’ve