Eagle County Regional Airport

Eagle County Regional Airport

IATA: EGE – ICAO: KEGE

EGE
Location of the Airport in Colorado

– FAA LID: EGE

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
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
7/25 9,000 2,743 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 331,956
Aircraft operations 36,401
Sources:[1]

Eagle County Regional Airport (IATA: EGE, ICAO: KEGE, FAA LID: EGE), sometimes referred to as Vail/Eagle Airport or the Eagle Vail Airport, is a public airport located four miles (6 km) west of Eagle, Colorado, United States. 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 is configured with a single 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. This enables aircraft to take off with more passengers and fuel and the capability to serve longer distances.

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 the Denver International Airport. Eagle serves as a good alternative to Denver for skiers in the Vail Valley because of its close proximity to the major international ski 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 into EGE rather than attempting to fly into Aspen. Operations into the airport during the summer months have proven to be increasingly popular with tourists, with United Express offering service year-round and with American Airlines serving the Airport during summer months from June through September. The Eagle County Airport is also extremely 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 wide 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 consists of a single concourse with five gates, constructed 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 Wi-Fi in the terminal. Like most Colorado airports, there are no jet bridges, with all passengers exiting and entering the plane via airstairs. Additionally, the Airport has customs facilities for private aircraft located at the Vail Valley Jet Center.

Local transportation

Most major car rental companies are also present. Eagle County has its own ECO Transit department, with buses running regularly between the airport and the ski resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek.

There are several private charter companies that offer ground transportation service to Vail, Beaver Creek, and Aspen. On-site companies with ground transportation counters in the airport's main terminal are available.

Operations

The Eagle County Sheriff provides airport security response. The airport has it 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. Public 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, American, Delta, and United Airlines provide non-stop jet service between EGE and nine U.S. destinations and Air Canada operates service from Toronto Pearson International Airport on Saturdays.[2] Summer options consist of daily non-stop flights on United Express, linking Eagle County Airport to Denver. United Airlines also offers infrequent summer service to their Houston, Texas hub. American Airlines currently offers summer service to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

During the ski season, airlines mostly operate the Boeing 757 which are able to make non-stop 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. 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 (operated by Republic Airlines) regularly flies a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft into EGE, augmented by the SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 series Regional Jet from Denver.

Of the regional ski resort airport—excluding Denver and Salt Lake City—Eagle County Airport has the second most regular flights during the winter, behind only Aspen, CO, and ahead of Jackson Hole, WY. Eagle County Regional Airport commands regular, ski season service from 10 cities across North America, including a flight from Toronto on Air Canada.[3]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air CanadaSeasonal: Toronto-Pearson
American AirlinesSeasonal: Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles,[4] Miami, New York-JFK
Delta Air LinesSeasonal: Atlanta
United AirlinesSeasonal: Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark
United ExpressDenver

Statistics

Top destinations

Top 10 domestic destinations (Jan 2015 – Dec 2015)[5]
Rank Airport Passengers Carriers
1 Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), TX 47,000 American
2 Denver (DEN), CO 32,000 United
3 Miami (MIA), FL 16,000 American
4 Atlanta (ATL), GA 14,000 Delta
5 New York (JFK), NY 12,000 American
6 Houston (IAH), TX 11,000 United
7 Chicago (ORD), IL 9,000 American, United
8 Newark (EWR), NJ 8,000 United
8 Los Angeles (LAX), CA 8,000 American
10 Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP), MN 170 Delta

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. ↑ "Eagle, CO: Eagle Airport (EGE)". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. December 2013 – November 2014. Retrieved April 2015.

External links

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