Aspen’s airport to close from Sunday to Friday next week
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
The Aspen-Pitkin County airport will be closed most of next week for runway and other maintenance, the facility’s acting director said Wednesday.
No commercial or private flights will be able to leave or come in to the airport between 11 p.m. Sept. 13 and 7 a.m. Sept. 18, said assistant Pitkin County Manager Rich Englehart.
“Anytime you close the airport, it’s a big deal,” said Englehart, who is serving temporarily as airport director after John Kinney retired earlier this summer. “It’s unfortunate but it’s a safety issue. The paint (on the runway) is faded and in need of redoing.”
Workers will repaint the runway, the taxiway and other areas of the tarmac during the week, he said. Other outdoor painting work will be done outside the terminal building and within parking lots, Englehart said.
The repainting must be done during daylight hours because the paint will not otherwise adhere to the outdoor surfaces during cooler nighttime temperatures, he said.
American and United Airlines, the only two airlines currently serving the airport, have been notified of the maintenance schedule and haven’t scheduled any flights during that time. County officials have been trying to get the word out to private pilots and aircraft that Aspen will be closed for most of next week, Englehart said.
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It may seem like it’s a bit early to be thinking about the premier summer event in Aspen, after all we are still skiing on fresh snow on all four mountains. But the 40th Anniversary of the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen is not that far away. This year’s Classic takes place June 16-18 which is just two turns of the pages of the calendar. The event sold out quickly and an exciting lineup featuring the best of the food and wine world has already been announced.
