by John Dowd
On June 11, 2024, the company that services and manages the fuel tank at the Stevensville Airport decided to discontinue service to Stevensville. This meant that for the first time in nearly 50 years, the Stevensville Airport was without fuel. According to Stevensville Airport Manager, Brian Germane, this was “devastating” to the local airport users and users traveling through the area. Because of this, the airport has been “on a quest to find a way to restore fuel to the airport,” said Germane.
Prior to the closure of the fuel tank, users were all accustomed to fuel being available. This is especially important as Stevensville is often considered by many pilots to be the “gateway to the backcountry,” according to Germane.
He also explained how the airport is well positioned between communities, with reasonable lease rates, easy to get in and out for pilots and not over developed or busy with air traffic like in Missoula. It is also without the commercial aspect that Missoula has, and unlike the Hamilton Airport, which is struggling with space so much so that there may be expansion needed in its near future.
To accomplish this mission, Stevensville’s airport saw two paths before it. The first, and more short-term of the two, was to seek another vendor to service the tank. This was done, and as of June 5, the tank was fueled. According to Germane, within the next couple weeks, after some more servicing, they hope to have the pump turned on.
As for the second path, one which will address the problem for the long term, the airport was able to secure 100% funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Montana Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division for a new tank. This will allow the Stevensville Airport to establish its own “fuel farm,” as Germane referred to it, and will include all the infrastructure to sell their own fuel, and retain all of the funding from those sales. “Then, the airport realizes all the income from those fuel sales,” said Germane.This will be a half million dollar project, according to Germane.
The project went out for bid, and the winning bid was selected. Since 95% of the funding will come from the FAA, as soon as they get the funding, they can put a down payment on the tank so that initial construction can begin. The tank will need a 20-week lead time, then the constructed components can be delivered to the airport. They hope to have this operational by late this year or early next year. The sooner the better, as Germane added, “It’s when we get our new tank that we’ll see some good revenue for the airport.”
This is an important aspect of the project. Germane spoke openly about the airport finances, stating that the annual expenditures of the Stevensville airport are around $64,000. The airport revenue is currently only at $36,000. With such a large deficit, Germane added that the only way they stay afloat is through a land use agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. This money comes from when the U.S. Forest Service utilizes the airport for fire fighting efforts. Germane said this seems to be the only good thing about fires, and that it is really, “not a good way to manage an airport.”
Having the funding from the fuel sales would “take a big bite out of that deficit,” said Germane, and would “make this airport financially viable.” Therefore, the tank addition would fix two problems: the need for fuel and the budgetary concerns.
The other thing the airport has been working on is securing a grant for asphalt and runway repairs. A couple years ago the airport had serious work done to bring the runway and aprons up to good condition. They hope to make that investment last with this project, which will work on improving the runway and taxi lanes, including crack repair, resealing and re-striping.
This work will be done on the majority of the airport, and there is $486,000 allotted for the project. Fortunately, Germane said the bid came in lower than that.
As background, Germane explained that the airport gets about $150,000 from the FAA every year, which goes into an account. These kinds of funds are given to airports across the state, and the size of each airport determines how much they receive. These funds are for improvement projects, and can only be accessed if an airport can provide a certain amount of match funds.
Normally, according to Germane, an airport must provide around 10% match. However, for 2025, the FAA decided, between fiscal years 2025 and 2026, that airports would only need to provide 5% match. Because of this window, the Stevensville Airport is doing what it can to get these projects done, saving thousands in their grant account for future projects. Germane said, on behalf of all those involved with the work on the Stevensville Airport, “We’re all feeling like this is a good win.”
For Germane and others, this year will be the culmination of years of work in bringing the airport up to date. It is a constant effort, but Germane wanted to thank everyone involved, saying that Stevensville Airport has, “just a very great group of people out there that want this airport to be the best that it can be.”