MISSOULA — The summer travel season is set to begin at Missoula Montana Airport in May, and passengers looking to board a flight will need to have a Real ID.
The federally mandated program begins on May 7, the same day Delta compresses its morning departures from Missoula to Salt Lake City and Minneapolis to 5:40 a.m. and 5:45 a.m.
“That's followed closely by both United and Alaska departures,” said airport director Brian Ellestad. “We'll have extra staff that morning to monitor and hopefully help the situation.”
The airport will also open the new east concourse to passengers on May 15. The opening provides two more gates just as the summer travel season kicks off.
Ellestad said Alaska Airlines will add a second daily flight to Portland on May 15, along with a fourth daily flight to Seattle. Frontier also launches twice-weekly service to Denver on May 30, while Allegiant begins twice-weekly service to Orange County, California, on May 19 and twice-weekly service to Oakland on June 13.
American Airlines will also begin daily service to Chicago and Los Angeles on June 5, while adding double daily service to Dallas/Fort Worth. Sun County will also offer twice-weekly service to Minneapolis.
“March ended with an increase of 15.3% more enplaned passengers as compared to last March,” Ellestad said. “We should have one more month of nearly double-digit increases before things settle into last year's record-setting numbers.”
The Real ID program adopted by Congress in 2005 will require all passengers to present a Real ID card starting May 7. Montana's congressional delegation for years lobbied for a state extension, which helped postpone the program's implementation in Montana.
But that grace period is set to expire and passengers with a Real ID or passport may face delays and additional screening at security, or possibly not be permitted past security.
Watch related coverage: Time ticking for Montanans to get REAL ID compliant for air travel as May 7 deadline nears
