Glacier Park International Airport (IATA: FCA, ICAO: KGPI, FAA LID: GPI) is in Flathead County, Montana, six miles northeast of Kalispell. The airport is owned and operated by the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority, a public agency created by the county in 1974.
The airport's ICAO code was KFCA, and most airlines still use that code for reservations purposes. Most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, but Glacier Park International Airport is GPI to the FAA and FCA to the IATA (which assigned GPI to Guapi Airport in Colombia.)
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History
The airport was built in 1942 as Flathead County Airport, from which its IATA and original FAA and ICAO codes were derived. Airline flights operated by Northwest Airlines began in 1950; however, passenger traffic was sparse for years. In 1970 the airport was designated as an international airport and received its current name. In the 1970s and 1980s passenger traffic increased as Hughes Airwest (previously Air West), Western Airlines, Delta Air Lines (which acquired Western), the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) and Horizon Air offered new jet service. Jetliners operated into the airport in the past include the Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-200, Boeing 757-200, McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 and Fokker F28. The 757 operated by Delta is the largest aircraft ever to have provided scheduled passenger service at the airport.
The terminal was upgraded in 1981, and upgrades to the terminal, runways and other facilities occurred in the 1990s. Between 1974 and 1998 passenger traffic increased more than fivefold. [1]
Service to Phoenix, Arizona on US Airways (formerly America West Airlines before it merged with US Airways) ended in 2007. West Coast Airlines served the airport in the 1960s with Fairchild F-27 turboprops with flights Spokane, Seattle and Great Falls before this carrier merged with Bonanza Airlines and Pacific Air Lines to form Air West which continued F-27 service from Kalispell. Air West was then renamed Hughes Airwest which in turn introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jet service. The original Frontier Airlines operated Boeing 737-200s during the 1970s with a routing of Kalispell-Missoula-Bozeman-Salt Lake City-Denver-St. Louis. By the 1980s, Frontier was continuing to operate Boeing 737-200s with Kalispell-Billings-Denver flights. Cascade Airways operated Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners (Metro III model) into FCA until it folded in 1986. In the 1990s, Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, flew Fokker F28 jets to Spokane and Seattle in addition to operating propjet service with de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8s, Dornier 328s and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners. Current Alaska Airlines service into the airport is operated by Horizon Air with Bombardier Q400 propjets which is the largest and fastest member of the Dash 8 family of regional turboprop aircraft.
Glacier Park International Airport Video
Facilities
The airport covers 1,525 acres (617 ha) and has two asphalt runways: 2/20 is 9,006 x 150 ft (2,745 x 46 m) and 12/30 is 3,504 x 75 ft (1,068 x 23 m).
In the year ending January 1, 2007 the airport had 51,925 aircraft operations, average 142 per day: 70% general aviation, 21% air taxi, 8% airline and 1% military. 159 aircraft were then based at this airport: 78% single-engine, 16% multi-engine and 3% jet and 3% helicopter.
Delta operates mainline narrow-body jets and Delta Connection operates regional jets using CRJ and Embraer aircraft. Daily nonstop flights to Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salt Lake City are operated year-round by both Delta and its regional affiliate. This is supplemented by seasonal/summer service to Atlanta on mainline aircraft.
United Express operates daily nonstop jet service to Denver year-round on CRJ aircraft. During summer, it operates seasonal nonstop jet service to Chicago (six times a week) and San Francisco (daily).
Allegiant Air MD-80s fly nonstop to Las Vegas and A319s to Oakland and Los Angeles several days a week.
Horizon Air operating as Alaska Airlines flies Bombardier Q400s daily to Seattle and on a seasonal basis to Portland, OR.
Airlines and destinations
Top destinations
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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