Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Glacier Park International Airport (KGPI) lies in Flathead County, Montana, six miles northeast of Kalispell and close to the southern approaches to Glacier National Park. It is a tower-controlled field combining scheduled airline service with a busy general aviation and hangar community, and it offers an ILS approach to its long main runway, making it a useful and scenic destination for simulator pilots exploring the northern Rockies.
Glacier Park International Airport serves the Flathead Valley and is the principal gateway for visitors bound for Glacier National Park. It is owned and operated by the Flathead Municipal Airport Authority, a public agency created by Flathead County in 1974. Alongside scheduled airline operations by carriers such as Delta, Alaska, American, United and Allegiant, the airport supports a significant general aviation presence with private hangars and an FBO. For a simulator pilot, the combination of a long ILS-served runway set against the backdrop of Glacier National Park, together with mixed airline and GA traffic, makes it an engaging mountain-adjacent airport to fly into.
The airport sits in Flathead County, Montana, roughly six miles northeast of Kalispell and near Glacier National Park. It is a towered field: the presence of Ground, Tower and ATIS frequencies indicates controlled airspace around the aerodrome, with Salt Lake City Center providing overlying en-route control on 133.4 MHz. Field elevation is 2,969 feet and the aerodrome reference point is at 48.3105 N, 114.256 W.
The airport has two physical runways. Runway 02/20 is a hard-surfaced runway roughly 8,984 feet long, lit, with an ILS approach serving runway 02. Runway 12/30 is a shorter hard-surfaced runway of about 3,495 to 3,496 feet, without lighting recorded.
ATIS broadcasts on 132.625 MHz. The tower, which also serves as the CTAF, operates on 124.55 MHz, with Ground control on 121.6 MHz. UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz, and a remote communications outlet for Great Falls Radio is provided on 122.5 MHz. Overlying en-route control is provided by Salt Lake City Center on 133.4 MHz. An ILS approach is available to runway 02.
Glacier Park is a tower-controlled airport: pilots should monitor the ATIS on 132.625 MHz before contacting the tower on 124.55 MHz, which also functions as the CTAF when the tower is not in operation, and use Ground on 121.6 MHz for taxi instructions. No specific circuit heights or noise abatement procedures are given in the available sources.
The airport was built in 1942 as Flathead County Airport, from which its original identifiers were derived. Scheduled airline flights began in 1950 with Northwest Airlines, though passenger traffic remained modest for some years. In 1970 the field was designated an international airport and took on its present name, Glacier Park International Airport. Through the 1970s and 1980s, traffic grew as carriers including Hughes Airwest, Western Airlines, Delta Air Lines, the original Frontier Airlines and Horizon Air introduced jet and propjet service, with aircraft types over the years including the Boeing 727-200, 737-200 and 757-200, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 and the Fokker F28; the Delta-operated 757 is recorded as the largest aircraft to have provided scheduled service there. The terminal was upgraded in 1981, with further improvements to the terminal, runways and other facilities in the 1990s; passenger traffic more than quintupled between 1974 and 1998. A major terminal expansion and modernisation programme began construction in 2021, with phases opening in 2024 and 2025 and a further phase expected in 2026.
Glacier Park International Airport today handles a mix of scheduled airline services, including Delta, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Express and Allegiant Air, alongside an active general aviation base with private hangars and FBO support. The airport is a designated U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry, and pilots of international arrivals are responsible for securing prior permission to land through the appropriate CBP procedures. A runway rehabilitation construction project is planned for July 2026, which may affect operations during that period.
