February passenger traffic at ASE surpasses record

Commercial airline enplanements at the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport continue to trend upward.

Bill Tomcich, an aviation consultant and head of Tomcich Travel, tracks traffic at the airport.

“February was yet another record month for (the airport) in terms of total passenger traffic, exceeding the prior record set in 2020 just before the pandemic shut things down that year,” he said in an email.

February 2024 saw an increase in total flights offered, completion rate, enplanements, load factor, and actual flown seats in and out.

General aviation, or private planes, does not report enplanement data.

The airport saw 907 scheduled arrivals in February, up 6% over 853 arrivals in February 2023. Of those 907 flights, 92% were completed, again beating February 2023 with only an 88.9% completion rate.

Those flights cycled 86,746 people through the airport, or deplanements and enplanements, in February. That number is 10.2% higher than February 2023 and 2.5% higher than February 2024, which was also another leap year.

Load factor inched up to 76.5% versus 75.7% in February 2023.

The February numbers keep with the 2024 trend of record-setting commercial activity, Tomcich said.

Upcoming closure

Due to ongoing issues with the pavement at the airport, the closure will run for two-and-a-half weeks. The airport will close at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 6 through 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 23.

Spring shoulder season is a time when many locals travel out of the area to escape the mud and get a break between seasons.

Tomchich said Eagle County Regional Airport and Denver International Airport services could compensate for the Aspen airport closure. Some rental car companies will stay open at the Aspen airport, as well.

United Airlines offers four daily flights between Eagle and Denver, and American Airlines will be offering daily nonstop flights between Eagle and Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport.

For May travelers, he suggested booking between two airports around the Aspen closure dates, if possible.

“These ‘open-jaw’ itineraries are generally priced very competitively against a typical roundtrip itinerary; they are just a little tricker to book on the airlines’ websites,” he said. “You simply need to click ‘Multi-city’ on AA.com, or ‘Multiple’ on United.com.”

Off-season closures may become longer and more costly for the airport as the runway deteriorates further, until the construction schedule, funding, and design can be decided upon for reconstruction of the runway.