Marolt: Aspen’s commercial air service will stay until the sky is falling (Copy)

Aspen will not lose commercial air service if we nix the plan to widen our airstrip to accommodate larger aircraft. You, along with SkyWest Airlines, can bank on it. 

If we had a lousy town that nobody liked and airlines were struggling, we would have to offer concessions and subsidies to keep them here. But, in case you haven’t noticed, Aspen is over-the-top popular.

Aspen is a lucrative airline market. Commercial airlines are hitting the afterburners to do business here. They will fly whatever jets we allow. We sit in the community control tower. We get to make the rules.

SkyWest Airlines operates nearly all commercial flights in and out of Aspen, under the names of United, American and Delta; and uses CRJ-700 jets for the job. They currently own 131 of them. These aircraft can continue flying here, even if we reject the proposed runway expansion. The Federal Aviation Administration is cool with that.