Merrill: Aspen airport expansion proposal ‘like déjà vu all over again’
Regarding local control of our airport Fixed Based Operator, the core question is whether FBO revenues will suffice to cover the needs of our airport without Federal Aviation Administration grants. AspenFlyRight will soon report, with accompanying data, that the answer is YES!
Based on FBO revenue data revealed last September, the revenues would be ample to modernize the terminal and repair the airfield without the FAA discretionary grants. The math works.
We believe we should make Aspen Airport better, not bigger. We have the FAA’s permission to retain our noncompliant airfield design and wingspan limit — all safety-certified and approved by the FAA — as long as our County Commissioners choose to keep it. The FAA specifically confirmed this to the commissioners last April.
Because Pitkin County has been asking for bigger planes for more than a decade, the FAA is trying to coerce the county into building a half-billion-dollar new airfield to fit them in return for staying eligible for discretionary grants. But if the county stopped insisting on bigger planes, lost the FAA grants, and kept the FBO revenues, we wouldn’t need the grants.
In 1995, Pitkin County voters soundly rejected airfield expansion to accommodate 737s. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Did they think we’d forget?
The voters of Pitkin County, not just the County Commissioners, should decide if we want bigger planes to land here.
Jackie Merrill
Aspen
Bear cub sniffs its way into Aspen Middle School cafeteria
A small bear cub was discovered inside the Aspen Middle School cafeteria on Monday, according to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
