Airport director Jeff Wadekamper said the Airport Authority, along with the Helena Air Service Alliance partners and its air service consultant Mike Boyd of Boyd Group International, met in October at the Montana Airline Rendezvous in Missoula with Delta Airline’s general manager of network planning to lobby for this service out of Helena.

Representing the Helena airport were Callie Aschim, president and chief executive officer of the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce, Assistant Airport Director Ross Marty and Wadekamper.

Other than Delta, airlines at the conference were Alaska, Allegiant, American, Breeze, Cape Air, Southwest, Southern, Sun Country and United.

He said Delta indicated they are still unable to reinstate the Helena service to Minneapolis at this time due to pilot and aircraft constraints. Helena had a flight to Minneapolis, which Wadekamper said was popular with local customers. The flights ended in March 2020 when Delta reduced its flights there and increased flights to Salt Lake City.

Wadekamper said several of the airlines had some level of interest in Helena, but have not made a commitment.

He said they “found Helena interesting in different ways. Helena has many advantages that we outlined, such as a central location in the state (large catchment area), lower than national average airport use fees …” he said. He also mentioned the location of the state capital and tourism as factors in Helena’s favor.

The three commercial airlines now serving the airport are Delta, Alaska and United. He said there are five departures and five arrivals. Flights are to Salt Lake City, Denver and Seattle.

Wadekamper said they are also interested in getting American Airlines with a flight to Dallas, but were told it would be 2025 until feasibly able to make a decision.

Wadekamper said the team provided Delta a “wide range of supporting information” and also offered the airport’s fees waiver program, which gives up all airport use fees to the airline for up to the first two years of adding new service (since the Minneapolis-St. Paul service has been gone for over two years it meets the FAA definition of “new” service and thus we can offer the fee waiver program to them),“ he said.

This fee waiver program is also being offered to lure any new air service to Helena from any airline.

He said talks are are just one part of the ongoing air service recruitment process.

“The other major component is to continue building a financial incentive pool to be used to convince the airlines to add service to Helena,” he said, adding they reduce the financial risk an airline assumes to try a new route. Since it is not legal for airports to use airport funds for air service incentives, the Helena Air Service Alliance is raising cash and in-kind donations and the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce is facilitating those funds through their 501(c)(3) account.

“Air service recruitment is extremely competitive, so we need to have a robust incentive package to offer to airlines if we are to be successful,” Wadekamper said, adding they need the help of the entire community if they are going to be successful on any of these efforts.

Anyone interested in learning more details or helping with donations can visit the website at www.helenaairport.com/announcements.

“Our goal is to do everything that we can within what we have direct control over, to ensure Helena has the best service possible.” he said.

He noted airports themselves do not have any control over ticket prices.

“… we can’t control the process directly, so often times that creates confusion on who or what controls fares,” Wadekamper said.

He said the Helena Regional Airport Authority operates with no local city, county or state taxes, as it is finically self-sufficient.

Editor’s note: Updates story to say Alaska Airlines was also at Montana Airline Rendezvous.