When the Missoula airport set a record-breaking year in 2024, it did more than shatter the previous passenger count — it also earned the airport small-hub status.
The FAA recently relisted the airport due to the passenger increase, said airport director Brian Ellestad.
“MSO jumped back into small hub status,” he said. “The major change for us is that our funding match becomes 10% instead of 5% to any federal grant we receive.”
The airport in 2024 logged more than 1 million passengers for the first time. This year, it's expected to break that record with more month-over-month increases.
August enplanements were up 2.2% over the previous August.
“Our streak continues with this being our 19th month in a row with monthly increases, and the 16th month in a row exceeding the monthly record for the previous year,” Ellestad said. “We'll need to restart our streak in October, as we lost a week in September due to runway construction.”
The runway project closed the airfield for roughly 127 hours last month — a project that takes place every 20 years. While the job is mostly done, Ellestad said it will likely soften the airport's passenger count for that month.
Still, the increase in passengers landed Missoula on the FAA's list of small hub airports — a title it first achieved in 2021. The classification requires more than .05% to .25% of the nation's traffic to travel through the airport.
In Montana, Bozeman remained Montana's busiest airport, landing at 92 on the list of national commercial airports ranked by enplanements. Missoula landed at 138, followed by Kalispell at 139. Billings was listed at 143, Great Falls at 196, Helena at 227, and Butte at 363.
In Missoula, the increase in flights and passengers also secured the airport a fourth checkpoint.
“TSA has informed us that they will be installing a second (full body scanner) in our checkpoint, which will make our fourth lane more efficient,” Ellestad said.
