Pitkin County held the first of two open houses on Thursday, introducing the public to future changes at the airport. The commercial jets that fly into Aspen now are being phased out so, the airport has to find a way to make the new, bigger jets fit. Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen explains.
For about two hours Thursday representatives from Pitkin County, the Federal Aviation Administration and an airport consulting firm walked citizens around poster boards filled with drawings and numbers. The open house follows community presentations and “coffee chats” with county manager, Jon Peacock.
"This is the first opportunity that we’ve had for the public to come in and ask questions of our consulting team and our staff, really look at the information that we’ve collected during the air services study, and give us comments on proposed changes to the airfield," he says.
The county is working on tackling a multi-million dollar problem. The primary commercial jet flying into Aspen now is being phased out. Its replacement will have a longer wingspan. To meet federal standards, parts of the runway will have to be widened.
JD Ingram is a consultant on the project. He says Aspen’s airport allows jets with a wingspan of 95 feet or less.
"In Aspen when you limit the wingspan to 95 feet and the required performance to come in and out of this airport with the mountainous terrain, there really is a narrowing because there aren’t many aircraft that can serve the performance requirements and be under 95 feet."
To fix the problem, an airfield reconfiguration is needed where the entire runway could be shifted west 80 feet, so parts of Owl Creek Road would be reconstructed. Two configurations are being studied and both are priced above $120 million. The FAA would pay the lion’s share and it could approve the project next year.
The public has another opportunity to comment during this initial planning phase at a second open house on November 11th at the airport.
