Growth still expected
“Town Crier” newsletter – Briefs from the Region (2) – 3/10/20
As neighboring and regional states Washington, Oregon and California battle some of the most acute outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in the U.S., with mounting death tolls accompanying the spreads, Montanans and nearby states are bracing for impact, and last week Montana Gov. Steve Bullock activated a COVID-19-specific task force to tackle the potential oncoming challenges as a result of the virus. Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, Montana’s busiest airport with more than 1.57 million travelers in 2019, is monitoring the situation closely and has even installed supplementary hand sanitation stations for travelers. According to Airport Director Brian Sprenger, “We’ve seen some of the airlines announce, on a domestic basis, some reduction in seats throughout the country, but we haven’t seen them specific to Bozeman yet … We anticipate there will be some impact, but keep in mind we were also projecting 20 percent increase, so if we see a decrease it may not be an actual decrease—it may be a reduction in the increase,” reports NBC Montana. Sprenger added that most travel into Montana from the Pacific Coast states is via terrestrial vehicles—80 percent, in fact.
