PRIVATE AVIATION DOMINATES AIR TRAFFIC IN ASPEN

While the pandemic contributed to decreased commercial aircraft activity at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (KASE), the airport has continued to experience an increase in general aviation-related traffic as passengers flock to the popular destination. The influx of passengers electing to fly privately to Aspen echoes the impact felt by the local real estate market which has been met by strong demand from homebuyers. Even with commercial traffic seemingly on the rebound, it is expected that private aviation traffic will continue to outpace commercial flights at KASE for the foreseeable future.

Currently, Atlantic Aviation is the only FBO at KASE, and hangar space has become difficult to secure on the field with continued demand outweighing available supply. In an effort to alleviate the lack of hangar space availability, Rifle Aviation was opened recently at Rifle Garfield County Airport to support aircraft storage overflow in the Aspen and Vail vicinity. Rifle Aviation offers four hangars with 12,000-square-feet of space for tenant and transient aircraft.