Glacier Park International Airport is soaring to new heights after reaching a milestone in its years-long expansion project.  

Underneath sky-high wooden vaulted ceilings, airport officials, business leaders and lawmakers on Tuesday celebrated the completion of the transit hub’s central atrium, which opened to the public in May.

Travelers entering through the airport’s central sliding doors will find themselves in a spacious room connecting the ticketing area and security to the right with baggage claim and car rental offices to the left. Tall glass walls allow travelers to peer up into the second floor where passengers wait to board departing planes.   

The central area also boasts a meet and greet lobby fitted with chairs and a fireplace for those waiting on travelers to deplane. A taxidermy black bear is situated to welcome those disembarking aircraft.  

“It’s a function we lost in the old building,” Director Rob Ratkowski said during the June 24 ceremony that featured contractors, a construction crew, designers and other community partners.  

“It’s been four years of hard work, and I really appreciate what you guys have done,” Ratkowski said. 

The Tuesday event heralded the completion of the first phase of the airport’s ongoing expansion, which saw its front facade undergo a facelift, the creation of the central atrium, renovations to the baggage claim and rental car offices, and an expansion of the ticketing area. 

The airport wrapped up part of the project’s first phase with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in March 2024. That portion saw the unveiling of the county’s sole set of escalators, which ferry travelers from security up to three new boarding gates, each adorned with a jet bridge. 

The terminal expanded from 75,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet, according to Rick Janisse, Flathead Municipal Airport Authority chair.  

“And we’re hoping that this airport is going to continue to grow,” he said.  

Airport passenger numbers have doubled within the past decade, according to the airport. In 2014, it welcomed fewer than 250,000 passengers; 2024 saw over 500,000. 

While construction crews broke ground in 2021, the project has been eight years in the making, said Matt Dubbe, the architect who designed the building.  

“I truly believe in the civic nobility of regional airports. They’re the first and last impression of every community,” he told attendees on Tuesday.  

The project was a labor of love for Dubbe, who was born in Helena and still has family living in Montana.  

“It was important to me, toward the end of my career, to give back to the state,” he told the Inter Lake.  

His goal was for the airport to look and feel uniquely Montanan.  

“I really wanted to go back to some of these clubby Montana bars,” he said. “If you’ve ever seen this place in the evening, the light levels are quite low. It’s to have that ambience to make people want to hang out here and feel comfortable.”  

Dubbe has designed regional airports across the country, most recently in Key West, Florida.  

County Commissioner Pam Holmquist, who attended alongside Commissioner Brad Abell, described the project as “very important” for the community.  

“The growth we’re having is tremendous. And of course, it helps the businesspeople here, it helps tourism, it helps all the things that promote our valley,” Holmquist said.  

Phase two of the project kicked off in 2024. It will see renovations to the south end of the building, including an additional gate and bag claim area, which is slated for completion in May 2026.   

The entire expansion is expected to cost around $168 million, according to Ratkowski.  

The airport has drawn from federal infrastructure funding, including grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration, to pay for the project. 

“I believe, and I know that many others do too, that this is probably the nicest airport in the country,” Ratkowski said before wrapping up Tuesday's event.  

Reporter Jack Underhill may be reached at 758-4407 or [email protected].