Aspen airport reports increase in local passengers

More locals are flying out of the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, according to officials.

Fly Aspen Snowmass consultant Bill Tomcich and Aspen-Pitkin County Airport Director Dan Bartholomew highlighted the increase in local passengers in a presentation given during a Monday Aspen City Council work session. 

Whether it is peak summer and winter seasons — or year-round services for locals — air service at the Aspen airport has “never been better,” Tomcich said.

According to data from the calendar year 2023, 28.5% of travelers locally originated from Aspen. This suggests that just over 70% are inbound visitors.

This growth also comes from fall and spring shoulder seasons, particularly in April, October, and November. Tomcich noted growth did not happen in May due to the closure of the airport’s runway for maintenance repairs.

Despite this growth, however, other issues have popped up at the airport with the increased local usage, like full parking lots.

Flight routes

Aspen airport winter routes have been established. American Airlines will fly from five of its hubs, including Austin, Texas. The Aspen airport will also be the only remaining ski destination that American is offering out of its Austin hub this winter. Vail, Denver, Reno, Nevada, and Albuquerque, New Mexico have been cut from American’s winter schedules.

“I continue to press upon Austin because that’s a really important route for us now,” Tomcich said. “We are the only ski resort where the folks from Austin can fly nonstop United flights from their five hubs — Denver, Chicago, Houston, LA, and San Francisco.”

Tomcich went on to say that all of these hubs but San Francisco and Chicago are now scheduled to operate year-round throughout the fall.

Delta Air Lines will also fly from both Atlanta and Los Angeles year-round, and American will fly from Dallas-Fort Worth year-round, with twice-daily service throughout the fall. All three airlines that fly out of Aspen — United, American, and Delta — will fly from Los Angeles during winter and summer. American and United will also fly nonstop to Aspen from Chicago.

This competition is one of the reasons travelers have seen “relatively affordable fares recently,” Tomcich said, as well as why local usage has increased.

Arrow Air, a small, scheduled public charter operator that does nonstop flights from Van Nuys in southern California, provides flights that are hybrid between a private jet and scheduled commercial service.

The rules in which Arrow operates limit the airline to fly five flights per week. Tomcich noted that this is not an inexpensive option, but it is starting to move the needle in terms of reducing the number of private jets flown in and out of Aspen.

Aspen saw a slight reduction in the percentage of private jets flying out of its airport. For the calendar year 2023, 76% of flight operations were not commercial. That number was about 83% a couple years ago, Tomcich said.

Change in planes

Over the summer, it was announced that United Airlines will replace some of its CRJ700s with Embraer 175s. The inaugural flight for the E175s at the Aspen airport is scheduled for Dec. 3, 2024.

And last November, it was announced that SkyWest would order 19 new E175s to replace an existing fleet of CRJ700s — which have a wingspan of 76 feet, 3 inches — as they came off contract flying for United over the next three years.

Aspen Councilmember John Doyle asked Tomcich and Bartholomew how large the wingspans are on the E175s, which are 93 feet, 11 inches.

The wingspan of the E175s is just inside the airport’s current restriction. Tomcich said that these planes are powered by similar engines to the CRJ700s, so it has around the same level of noise.

The biggest difference between the two planes is that the E175s’ engines are mounted beneath the wings, as opposed to the tails, which creates slightly different acoustics. The E175s also have modern avionics on board, like satellite-based navigation, which are not available on older CRJ700s.

In 2019, the E175s were introduced to the Eagle County Regional Airport. They were also introduced at the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport over a year ago. The E175s also allow full-size carry-ons to be brought on board and stored in overhead compartments rather than checked with the rest of travelers’ luggage. The E175 fits 78 passengers, the same as the CRJ700.

In addition to the discussion on the E175s, Tomcich and Bartholomew also mentioned the airport runway’s need to be replaced, the airport’s loss in federal funding, the airport’s expected terminal upgrade, the airport’s FBO lease, as well as the two airport-related November ballot questions.

This presentation follows an airport discussion panel and Q&A, which included Tomcich, from a Whole Lot of People for a Better Airport last Tuesday.

Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.