BOZEMAN — Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport made a major announcement that will bring more flights and another destination in the future.
On Thursday morning, American Airlines announced new daily service to Los Angeles, and Saturday service to both New York LaGuardia and Philadelphia. This decision took airport officials by surprise.
"They called us last week and said Philadelphia, while it was on our radar and certainly the top 5 destination where we were hoping for service, this one was earlier than expected," Airport director Brian Sprenger said.
Like any other business, it’s about supply and demand with destinations like Bozeman.
"The attention from the different airlines looking into Bozeman has been good,” said Sprenger. “They continually add seats and fill them. That’s what they’re in the business of doing which is filling airplane seats."
In addition to year-round daily service to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) and winter and summer daily service to Chicago O’Hare (ORD), American will add daily summer service to Los Angeles (LAX), Saturday only summer service to New York LaGuardia (LGA) and Montana’s first service to the state of Pennsylvania with Saturday only summer service to Philadelphia (PHL).
There’s a lot of demand in the Bozeman area, and an airport with options can help drive that demand.
"The access and ease help business men and women to do business out of here,” said Bozeman area Chamber of Commerce CEO/President Daryl Schliem. “The stability for Gallatin County and the city of Bozeman community is basically sitting there at the Bozeman Yellowstone International airport. Our connectivity to the rest of the world makes a big difference for the economic generator for our future."
These new additions by American will add an additional 2,400 seats for passengers.
The airport hopes to add additional cities like Washington and Boston in the future.
RELATED:
