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The Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport lobby on Feb. 3, 2021.
When air passenger numbers in Montana dropped 95 percent at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, airport managers worried about how they’d stay in business. Closures would have had lasting ripple effects in communities that depend on tourists, business travelers and fast access to medical hubs. But airports are pulling through, even as passenger numbers have not fully recovered.
This time last year, Montana’s busiest airport was breaking passenger records. Then COVID-19 infections exploded around the world; business and leisure travel to Bozeman essentially came to a standstill.
“When we got into April and May, we were barely operating in terms of passengers,” Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport Director Brian Sprenger said. “We would see about 50 passengers a day compared to what would normally be about 1500 a day departing the airport. So it was very dramatic.”