“No other airport in the state of Montana has originating flights. So we are working to make sure that not only air carriers, but businesses are aware that we are a hub airport and we want to expand this role by securing other carriers to provide in-state and regional air service from Billings.” NAVIGATING INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES DOWN THE FLIGHT PATH Charting the airport’s route forward directly relates to some of the upgrades required. Roach is ensuring these capital airport improvement projects are up to speed and can accommodate projected cargo and commercial growth. The airport has completed the first half of its airport terminal upgrade and is part of the overall list of projects completed and slated for completion. “We expanded the terminal restaurant and gift shop to provide more concession opportunities and also expanded the TSA checkpoint area. “There are now three checkpoint lanes and room to expand to a fourth lane if our passenger levels rise to that need,” Roach adds. “The terminal project also involved modernizing the bathroom facilities, and we think that we have some of the best bathrooms of any airport in the nation. The airport passengers are recognizing the welcome terminal changes, and the media has picked up on it, too. “All of these changes helped us to be named in Travel and Leisure’s Domestic Airport Passenger Survey as number seven in the nation.” Billings Logan International will also see positive changes to its crosswind runway this year. “This year, we are taking runway 7-25 from 5,500 feet out to about 6,250 feet, and that corrects some of the geometry issues that we had with our general aviation runway that crossed our crosswind runway.” The crosswind runway that is currently limited to accommodating up to 12,500 pounds will soon be 169 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 09 BILLINGS LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
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