United Express, working through its regional partner SkyWest, will add a round-trip flight between Missoula and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. United is also adding a similar flight that connects Billings and Chicago.
The flight will only be weekly - it arrives from Chicago on Saturday night and leaves Missoula on Sunday morning - but airport director Cris Jensen said the flight opens up a new city to Missoula travelers.
Jensen said the airport is always in ongoing discussions with the airlines about traffic into and out of Missoula, and he foresees a time when Missoula will have more flights.
“A lot of times for us it's not really the performance of the market, which is doing really well,” Jensen said. “It's really more about the availability of aircraft.”
Until Delta cut back on its Montana flights last fall, air carriers had generally been adding flights to Montana airports, a sign of both increased population and growing tourism numbers.
But Delta, saddled with bankruptcy and the high costs of fuel, reduced from 50 to 36 its total number of Montana flights. Many of the flights that Delta shut down involved its Salt Lake City hub, which serves as the destination for most flights going out of Missoula.
Jensen said carriers tend to adjust their flight schedules as the summer tourist season comes on, so he's hopeful airlines might add a few flights for Missoula in the coming months.
In addition to the new United flights into Missoula and Billings, Montana will also get a new summertime flight connecting Bozeman and Delta's southern hub of Atlanta. That flight will be offered twice a week.
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