Missoula International Airport had yet another record month for September. Deputy Director Brian Ellestad says the total number of passengers flying in and out of Missoula increased by seventeen percent compared to the same time last year.

“We had a lot of extra airline seats in our market for September with Alaska doing Seattle service, adding that extra round trip in the market and Allegiant doing Los Angeles year round,” said Ellestad. “All of our airlines actually added a lot more seats in our market so we had a big increase in September. We expect an 8 to 9 percent increase for the full year.”

Ellestad says all this extra foot traffic may lead to some changes to the terminal.

“Right now we are going through an airport master plan for terminal,” Ellestad said. “We are looking at whether it is best to remodel or to start out with a new building. We are going through that phase right now and just want something that is more efficient. We will probably start designing it, or figuring out the remodel part of it the beginning of next year already. We are getting pretty far down the road.”

According to Ellestad, they have set a record almost every month this year and they expect that trend to continue.

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