Not far above the eastern Montana prairie, a fleet of propeller aircraft whizzes every day from Billings to some of America’s smallest passenger airports.
These flights might also rank among the nation’s most exclusive. Cape Air, the operator, limits capacity to as few as seven passengers each. But they serve some very different VIPs: people from far-flung towns who say they rely on the routes for basic needs like medical care.
“People that use it need it,” said Don Kaveshan, who recently waited for his flight from Glasgow Valley County Airport.
People sit in the waiting room at Glasgow Valley County Airport on Thursday, July 25.
SHUN GRAVES, Billings Gazette
There, a small room holds departing passengers, welcomes arrivals and includes the ticket window. Wood-paneled inside, this otherwise utilitarian outpost exudes more charm than what the federal government’s Essential Air Service program may suggest.
The five intra-Montana routes that spoke out from Billings — to Glasgow, Glendive, Havre, Sidney and Wolf Point — receive hefty subsidies through the EAS program. In return, Cape Air operates multiple daily flights and offers low fares to residents who say they have little choice but to fly.
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Those subsidies have recently grown, and they will increase incrementally under the current contract. Passengers from some of America’s most remote towns still call the service essential as ever.
Wheels up from Billings
No jet bridge, no jets, no bells and whistles.
A quiet nook sits steps away from the rest of the newly updated concourse at Billings Logan International Airport. Downstairs and outside, Cape Air’s twin-piston propeller aircraft line up on the apron.
On a recent July morning in Billings, “Roseanne” reruns flickered on a television above the subdued Cape Air waiting room. Joyce Peters waited for her flight to Glasgow, the return leg of a trip she said she takes about every month.
“I just enjoy it,” she said. “I do. I don’t mind small seats. I don’t mind how hard it is to get in.”
Rayne Salyards waited nearby. He, too, for Glasgow.
He now lives in Billings but flies to Glasgow for family. Each way, the trip takes a little more than an hour — chump change compared to the distances people drive in northeast Montana.
“It’s kind of fun to, if you need to go to Walmart, take a little four-hour trip with the family,” he said.
Those lengths can sometimes feel too long, impossibly so.
Peters, of Nashua, said she can’t drive so far anymore. From the Glasgow area, it takes more than four hours by road to Billings, the nearest commercial and medical hub.
Glasgow and other towns in sparsely populated northern Montana, except for Glendive, lack an Interstate. Amtrak’s Empire Builder route spans the north, avoiding the state’s population centers.
After a 40-minute delay, five passengers walked down the stairs to the apron.
On Cape Air, you receive your seating assignment when you board. Before that, check-in agents ask you for your weight and weigh your bags, carry-ons too. Because of the airplanes’ small size, airline crews must tabulate precise weights and how to balance them.
First Officer Sam Ben-Eliezer looks out the window of a Cape Air plane bound for Glasgow on Thursday, July 25.
SHUN GRAVES, Billings Gazette
Zach Blackburn and Sam Ben-Eliezer helmed the unpressurized Tecnam P2012 Traveller as it trundled toward an altitude of 9,000 feet, or about 6,000 feet above these high prairies. Not much higher, oxygen thins out even more.
Low fares, high subsidies
This round trip to Glasgow cost $78. Unlike other commercial service out of Billings with fares above the national average, Cape Air prices its subsidized flights well below.
“Our philosophy has always been ‘get the traffic up,’” said Bill Callahan, Cape Air’s station manager at Billings. “We want people flying. That’s the goal of Essential Air Service.”
The carrier has held a contract to serve the five cities since 2013.
The federal government’s EAS program arose after it deregulated the airline industry in 1978. That meant the nation’s smallest airports lost connections because airlines could not serve them profitably.
Carriers apply through a competitive process with input from the EAS communities. Last year the federal Department of Transportation again selected Massachusetts-based Cape Air for its most recent bid.
“They’ve done very well,” said Walt McNutt, chairman of Montana’s EAS task force. “They’ve gone through some tough situations, you know, pilot shortages, aircraft problems, whatever. And they’re limited in their flight altitude, so weather has a big impact on them.”
Operating costs have grown, and so have subsidies. Across all EAS routes outside Alaska, the federal government pays $493.2 million in annual subsidies to carriers, according to its most recent published report.
In Montana, two other airports receive EAS service, though by SkyWest Airlines. Operating as Delta Connection, it flies from Butte and West Yellowstone to Salt Lake City. And as United Express, it flies from West Yellowstone to Denver.
But Cape Air flies within Montana, eschewing the massive airline hubs to the south. Most people go to Billings anyway, at least from Glasgow. Terrie Arneson, Cape Air’s ground security coordinator at Glasgow, said many fly for medical and dental care.
Eighty percent or more, she estimated.
A Cape Air airplane sits on the apron at Glasgow Valley County Airport on Thursday, July 25.
SHUN GRAVES, Billings Gazette
“Two of our dentists in town here, they’re pretty much at retirement,” she said. “About the only two we have. I mean other than that, we don’t really have a lot of dental here either. So I know people fly out for that reason.”
Small ridership and rising costs have periodically given pause to Washington politicos. However, both of Montana’s senators have argued in favor of the EAS program.
This year, Cape Air’s twice-daily flights to Glasgow will receive $2.7 million in EAS subsidies. Glendive, Havre and Wolf Point see similar rates. Sidney’s five daily round trips will land $6 million in subsidies. Per the contract, each rate will increase over the next three years.
Four of the five routes have also seen ridership grow.
As of Tuesday, Glasgow, Glendive, Havre and Wolf Point have seen enplanements inch up this year compared to the same time in 2023. Sidney has seen departing passengers dip, according to Cape Air data. But ridership out of Billings has increased.
So far this year, 1,788 people have boarded a Cape Air plane at Glasgow, while 11,144 have climbed on at Billings.
“At the end of the day, that region works really well for us,” said Aaron Blinka, Cape Air’s vice president for planning. “If anything, we’d love to grow the region, if any additional communities are added into the EAS program.”
The small terminal building at Glasgow Valley County Airport, also known as Wokal Field, is seen on Thursday, July 25. It handles two commercial departures a day.
SHUN GRAVES, Billings Gazette
On time from Glasgow
Like the Fort Peck Lake that riders see on approach, Glasgow’s airport stands out, perhaps because the terminal looks so miniscule by comparison.
“I mainly get private planes, which is our main traffic,” said Austin Sundeen, the airport’s assistant manager. “But it’s definitely weird not having many commercial flights, so it keeps it really quiet around here.”
In preliminary 2023 data from the Federal Aviation Administration, Glasgow saw the fewest passenger enplanements of any U.S. “commercial service” airport with year-round flights outside Alaska. Glendive’s airport had fewer passengers, but it belongs to the FAA’s lower “general aviation” category.
Glasgow’s 2,892 departing passengers had a spartan travel experience few Americans can claim. Here, everything happens one step and one person at a time.
On another recent July morning, the waiting room’s two rows of chairs faced each other. A couple of vending machines suffice for retail. The Transportation Security Administration checkpoint sat in the corner, closed this early before the flight to Billings.
Passengers walked in occasionally.
Tom McIntyre grew up here and now works for Albertsons corporate in Idaho. He had just attended the grand opening of Glasgow’s newly moved and expanded Albertsons, which included the first Starbucks in 145 miles.
For the first time in years, he flew to Glasgow. McIntyre said he had planned to take the morning flight, but that one got canceled. Bumped to the noon flight, his roundabout connections back to Idaho got longer.
The tiny Glasgow airport still impressed him, McIntyre said after passing through security.
“It’s amazingly sophisticated,” he added. “I didn’t know they had TSA.”
Not long before departure, the checkpoint opened. Seven passengers waited. The four security officers led each person through the single lane. Only when one person completed the screening could the next walk up.
A small holding area with nine chairs awaited on the other side.
Then Arneson, of Cape Air, led the passengers toward their ride back to Billings.
One by one, they clambered into the Tecnam. Crouching, they made their way to their assigned spots. McIntyre sat near the front.
“First class,” he said jokingly.
And as the propellers spun and the plane lifted off, Glasgow’s townscape expanded below. Few get to see it from the sky.
A Cape Air mechanic works on a plane at Billings Logan International Airport on Friday, July 26.
SHUN GRAVES, Billings Gazette
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Publish date : 2024-08-13 20:30:00
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