Business soaring at Missoula airport

Kathy Dahood, executive secretary for Bob Minto at ALPS Corp. http://www.alpsnet.com in Missoula, spends a fair amount of time thinking about business travel.

"What I do is coordinate all of his (Minto’s) travel with our travel agency," Dahood said. As she spoke, Minto was in Texas on business.

The more travel choices, the happier Minto is and the smoother the Missoula-based holding company’s business operates, Dahood said.
"The (flight) choices are limited, but it seems to work out with little difficulty," she said.

Business travel, the airline industry’s most lucrative niche, is the backbone of the consistent, high-single-digit growth of Missoula International Airport http://www.msoairport.org/ .

Missoula airport executives and board members have been hard at work growing the airport and expanding service – most notably and recently with the addition of the budget leisure carrier Allegiant Air out of Las Vegas. The airport is actively courting Phoenix-based America West Airlines.

"America West completes the set," said Joe Easton, the airport’s interim director.

By ROBERT STRUCKMAN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/04/03/news/local/news02.txt