BILLINGS – Billings Logan International Airport is ready for President Trump’svisit aboard Air Force One on Thursday, airport officials said Wednesday.
The arrival is scheduled for approximately 5:30 pm.
For security reasons, only regular users of the airport know when they need to be clear for Air Force One’s landing.
The procedures will be the same as when Vice President Mike Pence landed in Billings in July.
An advance team, the Secret Service and the White House staff have been working with airport management for about a week.
“The airspace around the airport will be closed prior to Air Force One landing,” said Shane Ketterling, assistant director of aviation & transit for Billings. “And there can’t be any movement at that time, so essentially everything shuts down.”
After the plane lands, there will be no view of President Trump from outside the airport.
“Secret Service has requested that we block off a lot of the fence line that people would be able to view it from,” said Ketterling. “They don’t want any direct line of sight between the public and the aircraft.”
The plan is for the president and his motorcade to leave the airport within 10 to 15 minutes of landing.
Ketterling said everything should be fine for passengers on commercial flights with minimal delays.
Reporting by David Jay for MTN News
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