Editor:
Wow, lots of Aspen airport thoughts are hitting the newspaper, appropriately enough, for such an important and integral part of our community.
I am sorry to say I disagree with the airport advisory board vote to move the runway 80 feet to the west. As I understand it, there are two compounding factors driving this recommendation; the strong desire by some to upgrade the Federal Aviation Administration category of the airport to allow larger aircraft, and an FAA threat to withhold federal grant money if the airport runway isn’t moved.
First, let’s not panic here about the runway in its current location and category; it works just fine where it is for plenty of the current aircraft, both private and commercial. It is not “hobbling” the airport to keep its current level of service.
Second, let’s not panic about the money, for if there is one thing that the Roaring Fork Valley is awash in, it is money. So this is not a good reason to make a bad decision. We should not prostitute our community values over threats about federal funding. Simply taking the private terminal and fuel sales in house, as many other destination airports have done, would generate a huge revenue stream which would allow for some financial elbow room.
Years ago, in a temporary departure from sanity, I was running for county commissioner, knowing the airport management was a big part of the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners responsibility and that, like now, there were issues out there. I had a good long sit-down interview with then-airport manager Jim Elwood. To my surprise, perhaps because I am a pilot and I do keep a little Cessna out at the airport, he confided in a buddy-buddy fashion the following: The runway needed to be moved to accommodate the G650 airplanes owned by many local uber-wealthy.
He related that the Gulfstream CEO had been in his office and had stated that the Aspen airport restriction was “ruining his market,” because these owners wanted to come and go directly from the Aspen airport and not through Rifle.
“How much would it cost to move the runway?” the CEO inquired. “$150 million” Jim replied. “I’ll get my checkbook,” the CEO offered. “No no no,” Jim replied, “If the people here thought it was for the billionaires it’ll never pass, we will have to sell it as the green thing to do.”
So they have sold the incredibly disruptive moving of the runway to us as required for the next generation of more efficient “greener” commercial airplanes. The stated threat is that the commercial operators will cease to service our airport if we do not make this change.
Do we really believe that the airlines will abandon their most lucrative flight segments (in and out of Aspen’s airport) because of the next generation of aircraft that they don’t even have yet? This sounds like the old “shoot the puppy” threat we always hear from those trying to panic us into actions that go against our community values.
The fact is, the gas guzzling G650 and other super-sized private jets are oversized dinosaurs that are a huge step in the wrong direction for any of our community values. They are symbols of unadulterated excess, horrible for any climate initiative, and are a stark way to show the world you just don’t care. We should not abandon our community values to encourage them.
Does limiting the size of the airport restrict growth in the valley? If it does, it isn’t obvious yet. The various limitations in growth that have been in place over the last 45 years have really only increased the desirability of the valley as a place to live and vacation.
The very same folks desperate to fly their G650’s into Aspen are those who are here because of those restrictions. Don’t let panic over federal funding cause us to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. People will find their way here regardless of our airport status. We might even end up encouraging smaller, more efficient, private long-range jets as real status symbols.
After talking to Elwood all those years ago, I was left with the thought: Can you imagine being the private aviation director who had counseled his billionaire boss that the G650 was the airplane for him, only to have to inform him he couldn’t take it to his estate in Aspen? Oh the shame of it!
Be brave Aspen!
Hawk Greenway
Aspen