With a record month for passengers in June and a significant upgrade of its facilities coming to a close, Glacier Park International Airport is already looking at future growth over coming years.

The airport, located in Kalispell, Montana, saw 21,280 enplanements in June, which was up by more than a thousand passengers compared to the previous year. Its 2014 passenger figures announced earlier this year were at 227,561, which marked an increase of almost 3 percent.

Glacier Park is one of the few U.S. airports that counts itself as a gateway to Canada — the border and the Canadian Rockies are only 70 miles north. At present, the airport is served by Alaska Airlines, Allegiant Air, Delta Air Lines, Delta Commuter and United Express. Many of the airport's services are seasonal, bringing inbound tourism to the Glacier National Park, and taking locals outbound to California and Nevada.

A number of carriers have upgraded the equipment used on flights to the airport, which has facilitated the growth in passenger figures.

"We appreciate our airline partners and their demonstrated faith in the region — adding up-gauged aircraft, increased flight frequency and service to/through more hubs," Airport Director Cindi Martin said.

There should be no illusions of grandeur for Glacier Park. It is a small airport, and it serves a modest community of 90,000 inhabitants. Much of what it achieves is through tourism and regular business users.

Having come to the end of a $32 million stage of upgrades that have seen the reconstruction of the parallel taxiway, an improved entrance to the terminal and roads, and work on the restaurant, the work will finish with reconstruction on the smaller crosswind runway later this year.

Yet it seems the positive growth in passenger numbers has spurred the Flathead County Airport Authority on to conservatively investigate where further improvements can be made as the next steps on its 2009 master plan. There is no need to extend the footprint of the terminal at present, but more space can be created within by remodeling.

Martin also outlined the external projects that are pressing, including the aim to provide an area south of the terminal for deicing aircraft, along with extra aircraft parking stands, in 2017. She is also aware of the looming need for resurfacing the main runway, which suffers from the extreme winter temperatures and is not likely to last more than 10 years.

"We're [planning] capital projects six years out," she said.

Much of what the airport hopes to do will depend on federal funding, which all airports can apply for if they outline a six-year plan for capital improvements. Many airports apply for such funding, and if successful the airport would need to match as little as 10 percent.

A nonprofit organization called Glacier AERO is working alongside the airport to attract and organize new airline service. It is presently targeting new links to Calgary, Canada, along with Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area. The group was responsible for the recent addition of a winter Chicago service.