New non-stop flight coming to Aspen in December

American Airlines will be running a new, nonstop flight to Aspen this coming winter. 

Starting in mid-December and running through early April, people will be able to fly the longest nonstop flight into Aspen from Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight opens up a new connection in the southeastern United States, enabling new “city pairs” to cities with airports that have typically had to fly into another airport before connecting to a final destination.

“Lots of connecting markets up and down the entire east coast don’t have a one stop option to get to Aspen,” said Bill Tomcich, managing partner at Air Planners Inc. and consultant with Fly Aspen Snowmass. “Through their Charlotte hub and their regional affiliates, there are now dozens of unique one stop connections from places like Charlottesville, Virginia, Lynchburg … The list goes on.” 

The potential for an expanded market is enticing for the Aspen Chamber Resort Association.

“We know that there is an underserved ski market in the Charlotte area, so we do think that it’ll bring skiers to the area,” said Eliza Voss, vice president of Destination Marketing at the Aspen Chamber Resort Association. “Our group sales department had some groups that were quite pleased when this announcement was made, because it just makes access easier.”

The announcement was made by American Airlines in late March. Tickets have been available since then. 

While data isn’t yet available on how many seats have been sold, Tomcich said that the “bookings look promising.”

As the longest continuous flight, American Airlines is not able to sell every seat on these plane because of weight limitations brought on by the extended distance between the two airports. According to Tomcich, this is the case for many of the longer flights originating from and arriving at Aspen, including nonstop flights to and from Atlanta and Chicago.

The Charlotte flight will run three times a week throughout the winter. Charlotte to Aspen nonstops are not able to operate in the summer as air density changes in warmer weather to make it more difficult to fly, Tomcich said.