HELENA — The Helena Regional Airport Authority and Helena Air Service Alliance announced Wednesday that United Airlines will begin operating a third daily flight to Helena on May 22. The new flight will arrive from Denver around 4:45 p.m. and return to Denver Airport. Officials told MTN the flight will bring more seats and connection options for travelers coming to and from the Capital City of Denver.
“Having three daily connections as part of the United network through the Denver hub will provide great connectivity and more options for travelers, and those flights have been doing very well. All of our flights here at the airport have been running very full. United is no exception; we've been working with all the airlines and trying to get more routes and services,” said airport director Jeff Wadekamper.
In 2024, United had around 40,000 passengers at the Helena Regional Airport.
According to Wadekamper, the new service will help increase the number of potential seats available for United travel between Helena and Denver.
“With this added flight, now on a yearly basis [United] will be right around 54,000 passengers if they are all filled,” said Wadekamper.
Adding the new flight should provide approximately 14,000 new seats for customers looking to travel between Helena and Denver.
Between 2023 and 2024, the airport saw a 13% increase in passengers. With the addition of this new service time, officials expect another increase in the statistics during 2025.
"This flight will probably do very well, probably be full. And so, we anticipate that we'll see an increase again this next year because of that. One of the key components of adding more air service and more routes and airlines is that you have to be very strong and perform well. You can use that to prove to the airlines that the hell in the market is really poised for growth, and we need more capacity,” said Wadekamper.
The airport and air service alliance have been working to bring additional flights to the community and encourage residents to take advantage of these new travel options. More new flights are likely to be added soon.
The airport is also working to restore Delta service to Minneapolis and add a new American Airlines service to Dallas and a new service to Phoenix, possibly through a low-cost air carrier.
