Southeast Montana News

According to the Missoulian, there are massive amounts of freight flying through Billings Airport these days. People who have seen the airport first thing in the morning can compare portions of Billings Logan International Airport to a cargo plane parking lot. 

Fifteen small prop planes sit on the tarmac waiting for their daily load of boxes that they'll fly to different points in Montana. 

If a Montana citizen orders items from out of state, most of the time that item has to make a pit stop at the Billings Airport. From Billings, it is delivered to its final destination. Due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, online shopping has become the norm for consumers. 

According to the AP, online sales have risen by 74% in March alone. When compared to the same time last year, that is a steep increase in online sales. This means that the Billings Airport has seen a 25% jump in freight traffic compared to the previous few years. 

Kevin Ploehn, who is the Billings' director of aviation and transit, told the Missoulian, "They [airport personnel] are really busy right now."

Each day, crates full of freight arrives in Billings in giant metal canisters that are unpacked and the contents sorted and loaded onto 15 small cargo planes. These are much smaller than the Airbus A300 that delivered the cargo. The passenger version of the A300 can seat 266 travelers. 

After the metal canisters are unloaded and contents sorted, the canisters are then reloaded with new freight that will go back aboard the huge A300 and is then shipped to other parts of the nation. 

Ploehn adds that all the packing and unpacking of cargo at the Billings Airport takes up vast amounts of storage space at the airport, and some days the airport simply doesn't have enough room. 

"They bring in all this extra freight and then have no place to stick it," Ploehn told the Missoulian.