A United Airlines CRJ-700 awaits the loading of passengers at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport in this photo from November 2023. A fire at the airport damaged the runway early Wednesday, leading to its full closure today (Thursday). Repairs are underway, and the airport will reopen Friday morning, officials said in a news release.
A local advocacy group is questioning the truthfulness of a new Pitkin County public information campaign that touts “modernization” at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport.
Aspen Fly Right, a nonprofit advocating against runway expansion at ASE, released a commentary in today’s newspaper that claims to debunk several statements included in the campaign, particularly regarding a newly approved layout plan for the airport.
AFR President Amory Lovins claims the campaign has misrepresented statements from the Federal Aviation Administration and overstated the necessity of moving forward with the plan.
The county’s new campaign, initiated in the last two months, includes a new “Airport Modernization” webpage, as well as advertisements placed in local print publications and television. Airport Director Dan Bartholomew, who is responsible for the campaign’s messaging along with the county communications manager Marci Suazo, said the campaign is designed to inform the Aspen community on the necessity of modernizing the airport.
Bartholomew said the campaign is emerging now because the county is planning to submit the layout plan to the FAA in the late spring of 2024, the first step in obtaining federal funding for a major overhaul of the airport. Pitkin County commissioners approved an update to the plan in June.
Some members of the public have criticized the plan, often complaining that it would allow larger aircraft and more traffic at the airport, which in turn would increase noise and air pollution in the community. While county commissioners have been mostly supportive, questions have been raised by Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury as to whether new plans run counter to previously established goals reached during the ASE Vision public discussions of 2019-20.
The FAA has said it would not accept a new layout plan that prohibits larger aircraft or one that prohibits certain kinds of aircraft for reasons like noise or pollution. Under the new layout plan, some Boeing 737 jets, capable of fitting up to 160 seats, would be able to land in Aspen.
Travelers await the return of their luggage in the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport’s baggage-claim area. Airport modernization plans call for redevelopment of the facility’s terminal as well as a runway widening that would allow access to larger jets.
Proponents have historically argued that the airport modernization is necessary because airlines are expected to phase out their aging fleets of Bombardier CRJ-700s, one of the few commercial aircraft that can land at the airport. More recently, the FAA has told Pitkin County it will withhold discretionary federal funding for the airport overhaul if the plan does not allow for larger aircraft.
In today’s column, Lovins criticized the new county ads for saying the plan pursues the goals of “quieter skies and cleaner air.” Lovins said the new plan would open the airport to “bigger” and “dirtier” aircraft, particularly noting private 737s and Airbus 319s.
Bartholomew said in an interview that the plan would actually allow for quieter, cleaner planes at the airport by opening it to newer aircraft, which are usually too large to land there currently. Newer, more eco-friendly aircraft, he said, are the “only way” for the airport to reach the 30% emissions reduction goal by 2030, one of many aspirations in the “Common Ground” recommendations that grew from ASE Vision.
Lovins also criticized the county’s new webpage for allegedly misrepresenting comments by the FAA and using those comments to overstate the urgency of the airport modernization project.
“If I wanted to be very polite, I would say that the ad campaign is written with a great economy of truth,” Lovins said.
Lovins particularly focused on two statements included in the county’s new webpage. In one, the county claims FAA officials have “stated (that) to keep commercial service, ASE needs to meet Group III airport design standards (for bigger planes).” Lovins said he is unaware of any such remark from the FAA, and that the county has not provided him with the specific quotation they were referring to with this statement. He said airlines are not asking for bigger planes or threatening a loss of service in Aspen.
To the contrary, Bartholomew said in an interview that the airlines may choose not to serve Aspen in the future if they can’t use their preferred, larger aircraft to do so. Bartholomew did not mention any official position by the FAA.
In a second webpage statement criticized by Lovins, the county says “[The] FAA is requiring the airport to update the airfield to comply with safety standards.” Lovins said FAA officials have actually affirmed the airport’s compliance with federal safety standards.
By contrast, Bartholomew said that the airport is technically out of compliance with FAA regulations, but that the FAA has made exceptions for Aspen in the past, which it is no longer willing to make if the community pursues a new airport plan.
In general, Lovins argued that Pitkin County is allowing itself to be bullied by the federal government rather than seeking its own solutions and maintaining local control over conditions at the airport. Lovins has long argued that the county should take over general aviation operations itself — the management of private aircraft and associated services — and use the revenues (which he said are over $15 million per year) to modernize the airport on its own terms without expanding the runway and allowing for larger aircraft.
Additionally, Lovins said airlines are not eager to phase out their CRJ-700 fleets. If they do retire them, Lovins said the airlines can replace them with other, similarly sized aircraft like the Embraer E175. The airport is in the process of creating accommodations for the E175, which may end up being used at ASE sooner than later if expectations of a near-term CRJ-700 phase-out become reality.
Ellen Anderson, AFR’s treasurer, recently requested information on the county’s expenditures related to the public information campaign. In an email shared with the Aspen Daily News, the county told Anderson that it expects to have spent over $80,000 on the campaign. As of the end of November, the county has already spent $568 on newspaper ads, $1,050 on design, $4,375 on TV production and $2,797 on TV placement.
The email also mentions that the county has budgeted $170,000 between fiscal years 2023 and 2024 for “advertising, community outreach and stakeholder communications,” but clarifies that these funds are not dedicated specifically, or only, to the airport modernization ads.
Lovins said he didn’t think so much effort or public money should be necessary.
“If the county’s plan is what the community asked for, why is the county spending so much public money to try to persuade us to accept it?” he asked.