HomeMy WebLinkAboutBennet Airport Ltr 4.8.22April 8, 2022
Honorable Senator Michael Bennet
225 North 5th Street, Suite 511
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Sent electronically to: directspending@bennet.senate.gov
RE: Pitkin County Airport / Sardy Field
Dear Senator Bennet:
On behalf of the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners, we would like an opportunity to meet with
you. As you know, the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport has a number of forthcoming critical capital projects,
including a new Carbon Neutral Passenger Terminal Building and a relocated FAA Air Traffic Control
Tower. These projects are needed to address aging, undersized, and non-conforming facilities, while also
advancing the community’s goals to reduce the Airport’s impact on the environment.
As the third busiest commercial service airport in the State of Colorado, our existing Airline Passenger
Terminal, constructed in 1976 and at only 44,000 square feet, is inadequate to serve our nearly 400,000
annual passenger enplanements. In addition to being undersized, the aging Terminal facility is the largest
energy consumer on the airport. Our goal is to replace this structure with a Carbon Neutral
building/intermodal transportation facility, right sized to address existing and future passenger needs.
Our existing FAA Air Traffic Control Tower, constructed in 1974, is unable to provide line-of-sight
monitoring of aircraft on the Airport’s single runway, and must be supplemented by a remote camera
system. The current location of this facility also impedes the ability to shift an existing taxiway to address
some acute airfield safety concerns. In addition, as one of the premier destinations for business jet traffic
in the world, encompassing over 80-percent of aircraft operations at the airport, space for the parking and
staging of these aircraft is extremely limited. These parking constraints, embellished by the location of this
tower facility, force many business jet aircraft to deplane passengers and relocate the aircraft to an
alternate regional airport. This effectively doubles the operations by these aircraft, unnecessarily
increasing their carbon footprint. By relocating the Air Traffic Control Tower with the Passenger Terminal,
significant safety, operational, and environmental objectives can be met.
We would like an opportunity to discuss potential options to bring these projects to fruition, and address
the aged and undersized facilities at the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, while also serving as a model in
environmental stewardship.
Sincerely,
PITKIN COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Patti Clapper, Chair