Eagle County Regional Airport

Eagle County Regional Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Eagle County
Serves Eagle, Colorado
Location Gypsum, Colorado
Elevation AMSL 6,547 ft / 1,995.5 m
Coordinates 39°38′33″N 106°55′04″W / 39.64250°N 106.91778°W / 39.64250; -106.91778Coordinates: 39°38′33″N 106°55′04″W / 39.64250°N 106.91778°W / 39.64250; -106.91778
Website www.flyvail.com
Map
EGE
Location of airport in Colorado / United States
EGE
EGE (the US)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
7/25 9,000 2,743 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 320,111
Aircraft operations 40,136
Sources:[1]

Eagle County Regional Airport (IATA: EGE, ICAO: KEGE, FAA LID: EGE) (Vail/Eagle Airport or the Eagle Vail Airport) is four miles (6 km) west of Eagle, Colorado. The airport serves its namesake Eagle County, which includes visitors to the nearby Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts. It covers 632 acres (256 ha) and has one runway. The History Channel rated Eagle County Regional Airport as #8 on its list of Most Extreme Airports in July 2010 due to the elevation, weather variability, an approach through mountainous terrain. and challenging departure procedures. In 2008–2009, the Airport completed a runway repaving and extension project, increasing the runway length to 9,000 feet.

The Airport is largely seasonal, with the greatest number of scheduled flights operating during the winter months. During the ski season, EGE is the second busiest airport in Colorado after Denver International Airport. Eagle serves as a great alternative to Denver for skiers at major resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Keystone, and Breckenridge. Due to the abundance of flights into EGE and the ability to accept larger aircraft than Aspen, during the ski season, a number of passengers fly to EGE rather than trying to fly to Aspen. Operations to the airport during the summer months have become popular with tourists, with United Express offering service year round and with American Airlines serving the Airport June through September. The airport is popular with private aircraft operators and has one of the top rated fixed-base operators in the country, the Vail Valley Jet Center. Due to the variety of private and commercial aircraft, CNN rated EGE as one of the world's top places to spot aircraft.

Airport diagram with runway extension shown.

Terminal and facilities

EGE's terminal has a single concourse with five gates, built in 1996 and remodeled in 2001 and 2007. There are four TSA screening lanes, a pre-security concession/gift shop, and three luggage carousels, in addition to a special ski/snowboard slide. In 2012, a new inline baggage handling system was constructed in time for the 2012/13 ski season. Beyond the security checkpoint, there is a restaurant, coffee shop, gift shop, and bar. The Airport also offers free wifi in the terminal. Like most Colorado airports, there are no jet bridges, with all passengers exiting and entering the plane via airstairs. The Airport has customs facilities for private aircraft located at the Vail Valley Jet Center.

Operations

The Eagle County Sheriff provides airport security response. The Airport has its own ARFF department with three fire trucks, including two state of the art Oshkosh Striker trucks. The Airport has a full complement of snow plows, snow blowers, and powered brooms for snow removal operations, along with a complete runway friction measuring system. The tower is staffed by SERCO contract air traffic controllers.

Aircraft procedures

While there is no standard published ILS approach at the Airport, there is a special ILS approach, mostly used by the airlines, which requires permission and training from the FSDO. General aviation aircraft, for the most part, arrive using a LDA approach, DME, or by operating under VFR. The Airport also has an on-site Beacon Interrogator (BI-6) Radar facility. All IFR clearances are given by the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC).

Airport operations

In the winter, Air Canada, American, Delta, and United Airlines provide nonstop jet service between EGE and twelve cities across North America, including a flight from Toronto/Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturdays.[2] Summer options consist of daily nonstop flights on United Express, linking Eagle County Regional Airport to Denver. United Airlines also offers infrequent summer service to their Houston, Texas hub. American Airlines offers year-round service to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

During the ski season, airlines mostly operate the Boeing 757, which are able to make nonstop flights to most U.S. airports. American Airlines flies an Airbus A319 on routes from Los Angeles, select frequencies from Dallas, and O'Hare International Airport. American also flies the 757 during its seasonal service to New York–JFK. United Airlines operates a Boeing 737-700 on its daily Newark nonstop flight as well as select frequencies to Houston. Air Canada operates an Airbus A319 on their winter Saturday only service.[2] Year round, United Express service is operated by SkyWest Airlines on a Bombardier CRJ700 series Regional Jet from Denver.

Of the regional ski resort airport—excluding Denver and Salt Lake City—Eagle County Regional Airport has the second most regular flights during the winter, behind Aspen, CO, and ahead of Jackson Hole, WY. Eagle County Regional Airport commands regular, ski-season service from twelve cities across North America, including a flight from Toronto on Air Canada.[3]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Canada Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Los Angeles,[4] Miami, New York–JFK, New York-LaGuardia (begins December 22, 2018)[5], Phoenix–Sky Harbor
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Atlanta, Salt Lake City
United Airlines Denver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, Washington–Dulles[6]

Historical air service

Prior to the advent of mainline jet service to EGE, during the mid and late 1970s only one airline operated scheduled daily passenger service into the airport: Rocky Mountain Airways, which flew small STOL capable de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops followed by larger, 50 passenger seat STOL capable de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops with nonstop flights to Denver Stapleton Airport (DEN) as well as to Aspen (ASE).[7]

Statistics

Top destinations

Top domestic destinations from EGE
(Jan – Dec 2017)[8]
Rank Airport Passengers Carriers
1 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 48,290 American
2 Denver, Colorado 24,920 United
3 Miami, Florida 14,690 American
4 Atlanta, Georgia 13,670 Delta
5 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 12,400 American, United
6 New York–JFK, New York 10,770 American
7 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 9,700 United
8 Newark, New Jersey 8,080 United
9 Los Angeles, California 7,670 American, United
10 Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona 1,930 American

See also

References

  1. ↑ , official site
  2. 1 2 "Air Canada Takes to the Slopes with Toronto - Vail, Colorado Non-Stop Flights". Air Canada. 2013-07-31.
  3. ↑ Steiner, Christopher. "The Top 5 Ski Town Airports". ZRankings. ZRankings. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2016/01/25/aa-lax-jun16/
  5. ↑ https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/279479/american-adds-seasonal-new-york-laguardia-vaileagle-service-in-w18/
  6. ↑ http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/267741/united-adds-seasonal-washington-dulles-vaileagle-route-in-w16/
  7. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, April 15, 1975 & Nov. 15, 1979 Official Airline Guide (OAG) editions, Vail flight schedules
  8. ↑ "Eagle, CO: Eagle Airport (EGE)". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. December 2013 – November 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
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