Montana Statewide Aviation Economic Impact Study
System-wide analysis of all 75 airports across Montana, conducted for the Montana Department of Transportation.
Every Airport. Every County. One Study.
Montana's aviation system is the lifeline of a state that is geographically vast and population-sparse. Commercial service at hubs like Bozeman, Billings, and Missoula links the state to the national air network, while general aviation fields in remote counties enable wildfire response, search-and-rescue, agricultural operations, and access to communities that would otherwise be hours from the nearest highway corridor.
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) Aeronautics Division engaged our team to produce a system-wide economic impact analysis covering all 75 airports in the state aviation system plan — one of the most comprehensive multi-airport studies ever conducted in Montana. The study supports MDT's grant programs, capital investment planning, and outreach to the state legislature on aviation funding.
Methodology
Each airport in the system received an individualized economic impact estimate, scaled to its operational profile. Commercial-service airports were modeled separately from general-aviation fields, with airline activity, on-airport tenants, and visitor spending each contributing distinct streams to the totals.
We supplemented secondary data with primary research, including operator surveys and the largest statewide tourist survey in Montana history. Visitor spending profiles were segmented by trip purpose and origin, allowing us to distinguish between net new economic activity (out-of-state visitors) and within-state spending displacement.
The analysis was conducted using an FAA-methodology-consistent framework familiar to aviation planners, ensuring the results are directly comparable to other state aviation system economic impact studies and defensible in federal grant applications.
Categories Measured
- On-airport employment, payroll, and procurement
- Airline and tenant operations
- Capital improvements and construction
- Visitor spending by origin and trip purpose
- Indirect supply-chain and induced household effects
- State and local tax revenue contributions
Significance
By covering every airport in every county, the study gives MDT and Montana legislators a granular, district-by-district picture of aviation's economic role. Rural fields that might be invisible in a single-airport study become visible — and defensible — when their contribution is documented as part of a statewide system. This supports the case for capital investment in smaller airports that play outsized roles in their local economies.
The study is a Montana Department of Transportation publication. Updated study results are released by MDT on a regular cycle.
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From single-airport master plans to multi-state aviation systems, we deliver FAA-consistent economic impact analyses that hold up to federal scrutiny.