The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport is assuming landlord duties on 28 tiedown spaces, looking to streamline aircraft storage management while having to “grandfather in” some leaseholders to fit new size restrictions.
The intent is to optimize use of the aircraft storage facilities because of limited space and lengthy waitlist, while also cleaning up the approximate 48-person patio shelter waitlist and 40-person tiedown waitlist — which could help move up local/semi-local pilots.
The county received control of the 28 spaces in the lease with fixed-base operator Atlantic Aviation, which was signed in November 2024. In total, the county has 71 parking positions between tie downs and patio shelter spaces. Atlantic has its ramp space and the hangar, which they balance with itinerant aircraft that come and go.
The Airport Advisory Board approved the recommendation of a draft lease to the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners at their meeting last Thursday, with a request from board member Michael Solondz that county staff further explore the legal potential for a minimum use of the airport for leaseholders.
Solondz said not requiring minimum flight activity for leaseholders could be prohibitive to getting leases for local aircraft owners.
“I don’t think that meets the intent of what we’re really trying to do here. I would add that one caveat, that staff go back and revisit that under legal counsel,” he said. “And if it’s a gray area, I think we take a chance there and see if we get pushback from the FAA.”
Daniel Baker, founder of flight-tracking company FlightAware, brought up that concern during public comment.
He said that leaseholders who may have once visited Aspen frequently or no longer do or leaseholders that used to fly frequently and now their plane just sits unused is a problem that needs to be solved.
“I would encourage everyone to, whether it be as part of this or an ongoing review of the lease, find a way to just make sure that we’re leveraging this resource, so that there aren’t a bunch of empty patio shelters that nobody’s using, or a bunch of patio shelters full of airplanes that nobody’s flying,” he said.
Dan Bartholomew, former airport director who now consults for the airport, said that the Federal Aviation Administration is unlikely to approve of such a requirement. Airports are federally-obligated facilities and the FAA’s mandate is to ensure safety and accessibility.
“Because airports are a national network, it’s difficult to give local preference on a network and a federal obligated facility,” Bartholomew said. “We can pursue that if that’s the direction the pilots and the BOCC and the residents want to go. Chances are, the FAA is going to say no.”
The new lease will require aircraft to be airworthy, a primary tenant listed on the lease who must be a majority owner of the aircraft (and cannot be the primary tenant on other county leases), new insurance requirements, badges for every aircraft owner and up-to-date medical clearance from the FAA to fly. There are some allowances for illness or injury in the event of pulled medical clearance.
For piston-powered aircraft, the aircraft liability insurance must cover personal injury and property damage for no less than $1,000,000 per occurrence, including not less than $100,000 per passenger. For turbine-powered aircraft, it’s $5,000,000 per occurrence, including not less than $100,000 per passenger.
The waitlist will switch to size-specific lists for the patio shelters, which vary in size but require an 18-inch separation between wingtips. The waitlist will be reviewed annually and the county will charge a $2,500 refundable deposit to remain on the waitlist, plus a $120 waitlist annual fee. The tiedowns are all the same size, but their waitlist will function similarly.
“If you’re already on the wait list, we're not taking you off,” Bartholomew said. “You’ll be transferred to a new wait list in the order that you report on the old wait list.”
Transitioning the waitlists is an opportunity to find people who have been on the waitlist for years, but no longer qualify or are interested in leasing with the county. Bartholomew said some people have been on the waitlist as long as 15 years.
“We don’t know, necessarily, if those people are still interested. Do they have an aircraft? Are they still alive?” he said. “We want to go through this and make sure that the waitlist is reset and clean.”
Once a position comes available, the primary tenant must have an aircraft there in 90 days. The time allowance is meant to give people time to acquire a plane if they did not already own one.
The new rule for tiedown leases is a 40-foot wingspan and 35-foot length restriction, intended to maximize the number of aircraft that can use the spaces. Current leaseholders will be grandfathered in, of which Airport Director Diane Jackson said there are about three.
One of those is tiedown leaseholder Robert Rubey, who said that the restriction could push locals out who do not wish to be tenants of Atlantic.
“I’m very pleased it sounds like my 41.8 foot wingspan is going to get grandfathered in,” Rubey said. “I really think additional study is needed with respect to this 40-foot number, because it feels so arbitrary to me.”
The number of people on the waitlists that exceed the restriction and would not be eligible for grandfathering in is not clear. Bartholomew addressed some pushback from local pilots that the restriction is “discriminatory” and said that it has been cleared by the county attorney.
“We’re not saying you can’t be at the airport. We’re just saying you can’t get a lease with the county in those tie downs,” he said. “You could potentially get a patio shelter when one opens up, or you can get a lease with Atlantic Aviation.”
Atlantic Aviation declined to provide specific details about lease pricing.
“We have limited ramp space available for leases,” local General Manager Jonathan Jones said in an email. “When ramp spaces become available, prices for a lease are negotiated directly between the prospective tenant and Atlantic Aviation.”
The new leases and waitlists will come with discounts. Aircraft with a wingspan not exceeding 54 feet and length not exceeding 84 feet will receive a 25% fuel discount from Atlantic, which sells and administers fuel at the airport. It will only apply to 110 aircraft, so the first 39 people on the waitlist will get the discount. As they move higher on the waitlist, they may become eligible. The policy waiver of a landing fee for aircraft under 12,500 pounds will remain.
The airport staff will explore a subleasing program, Bartholomew said, but not before transitioning leaseholders onto the new lease.
The actual parking rate is yet to be determined, pending a third-party rate study and approval from the BOCC.
In a way, the lease provisions are temporary. Part of the modernization plans for the airport include development of a west side general aviation facility focused on local pilots.
The design of that facility and decisions about its capacity will come later, Bartholomew said, with BOCC direction. After that, Atlantic will receive control of the existing patio shelter and tiedown space, but will be required to space out aircraft more than it currently does.
The county is interested in this model to have a facility designed for locally-based pilots and aircraft. The FAA is interested in it to improve accessibility, but keeping it smaller-scaled and safe to minimize runway crossings.
