Glacier Park International Airport had 356,000 enplanements throughout 2019, up 16% from the year before.

Enplanements refer to the number of outgoing passengers that board planes at a given airport and are used as the metric to track airport traffic.

“It definitely beat our expectations,” Airport Director Rob Ratkowski said. “We keep saying ‘surely it will level off.’”

But instead of leveling off, the number of airport visitors continues to climb.

In the three years since Ratkowski took over as airport director, the airport has added about 70,000 enplanements. “That’s a large percent relative to our total number,” Ratkowski pointed out.

In July and August of 2019, Glacier Park International passenger totals surpassed Missoula International Airport and were second in the state behind Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. “That was surprising to us,” Ratkowski reported.

July 2019 was the busiest GPIA has ever been.

But the busy summer season hasn’t been the only contributor to the ever-increasing numbers.

“All of the off-season months are up as well. We had pretty solid growth in all months,” Ratkowski related. “It’s not just tourism.”

He attributed the increase to a strong local economy, which allows locals to travel through the airport in addition to out-of-town visitors, as well as additional American Airlines flights and new service to New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

“It mimics the local economy. There’s a lot of growth,” Ratkowski observed.

In 2020, he said the airport expects passenger totals to increase another 10%.

“It really underscores the need for the project,” Ratkowski said, referring to the $100 million expansion that will begin this year to add terminal space, security checkpoints and baggage space.

GPIA visitors can expect to start seeing changes as part of the project as soon as March or April. One of the first changes will be the addition of another Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security lane, bringing the airport’s total up to four lanes.

The new lane will require a fundamental change to the security checkpoint’s footprint, including moving an interior wall to make room for passengers and walling off the current restaurant area to be included in the post-security section of the building.

As a result, some passengers will have to go out Door 3 and in Door 4 while traveling between ticketing and rental cars for the next few years.

In April, the airport also will start modifications to the baggage system, but Ratkowski said this change will be less visible to visitors.

And while the changes will be noticeable starting this spring, Ratkowski assured they won’t interrupt travel plans.

“That was one of the tenets of the whole project,” Ratkowski said. During construction, the airport still “absolutely, unconditionally has to work.”

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.