Daines, Bozeman Airport Manager Call for Cooperative Solutions to Improve Service in Montana

Press Release

Representative Steve Daines today welcomed Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport Manager Brian Sprenger to a House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing to discuss the challenges facing Montana's rural airports and share the need for cooperative solutions to improve and maintain air service in rural regions.

During today's Aviation Subcommittee hearing on "Air Service to Small and Rural Communities," Daines and Sprenger highlighted the Bozeman Yellowstone International record of success in controlling costs and growing the airport into one of the largest in the Northwest Mountain Region.

"For those of you who have not been to Bozeman Airport, when you see these low cost numbers, I can tell you the Bozeman Airport is one of the nicest airports in the world," Daines stated during today's hearing. "We think of Bozeman as a smaller airport, but it's the busiest now in Montana -- and congratulations, it looks like you're going to hit 1 million passengers in 2014, and that's impressive growth."

"Aviation provides remote states, such as Montana, with access to the world. A strong aviation system is imperative for our continued growth," Sprenger stated in his opening testimony. "We have strong partnerships with our community. We also believe airports and communities must have skin in the game to succeed in air service development."

Daines and Sprenger also discussed the importance of the Contract Tower and Small Community Air Service Development programs to the long-term sustainability of airports in rural regions and small communities. Sprenger conveyed the challenges facing growing airports, like Bozeman Yellowstone International, who are unable to provide additional services due to the constraints created by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under this program.

"We are a Contract Tower Program airport, and it's worked extremely well for us--it got us a tower when we would not have been able to justify a tower fifteen years ago. The challenge now is that we've grown to become a small hub airport, and the Contract Tower Program is really designed for the smaller airports around the country. There's really no mechanism for the FAA to allow airports to grow into either a federal tower or shrink from a federal tower to a contract tower," Sprenger noted."[We need to] have services commensurate with the size of the airport, so that as you grow, you get more services and as you shrink, you accordingly have services that are appropriate for your size."

Daines also noted the importance of reliable air service to growing Montana's economy and creating new business opportunities in the state. Daines highlighted how the services provided by Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport allowed RightNow Technologies, a Bozeman-based technology company where Daines served as Vice-President, to create more than 1000 good-paying jobs and remain globally competitive.

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