Airport Plays Message Blaming Private Planes For Delays

Any way you slice it, March 15 was a lousy Saturday for travelers trying to depart Colorado's Aspen-Pitkin County Airport... and passengers pointed a finger (you may guess which one) squarely at general aviation as the cause.

Of 30 commercial flights scheduled to depart ASE that day -- mostly regional jets, making the short, 110 nm hop to Denver -- 14 were delayed, and two were cancelled outright. Most of the delayed flights spent at least an hour on the ground, reports The Aspen Times, though one SkyWest flight spent nearly seven hours stuck at the gate.

So, who was to blame? That depends on who you talk to. SkyWest places blame squarely on the FAA, for its failure to have personnel and equipment in place to handle a large volume of flights into the airport's lone runway.

“It was related to Air Traffic Control, and out of the airline’s control,” SkyWest spokeswoman Marissa Snow said.

And speaking of traffic volume... Saturday was also a "monster" day, to quote the Times, for GA traffic flying into ASE. Stranded passengers listened to a message, playing throughout the terminal, that placed blame for the groundings on the high volume of private traffic.

Over 100 private planes also landed at the airport Saturday, according to ASE officials. A private plane also slid off the runway at one point, which closed the runway for over an hour.

“You’re causing a huge inconvenience for hundreds of people who fly into Denver,” fumed Aspen resident Richard Simpson, whose daughter was stuck at the airport for most of the day. “I’d like to know what (Washington) DC’s policy is, because in my opinion, you’re screwing over hundreds of people by letting in extra private aircraft.”
 
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus took a magnanimous position, saying during times of high flight volume it's first-come, first-served. “An aircraft is an aircraft and there’s no preferential treatment unless there’s an emergency, he said. “And I can tell you that any delays were not induced by the FAA or Air Traffic Control.”

Curiously, Fergus also admitted the FAA did not enforce its own slot restrictions at Aspen, which governs the number of flight operations at Aspen during times of high traffic. Despite that seeming error in judgment, Fergus said that was not a contributing factor to the day’s travel hassles.

ASE Airport Director Jim Elwood points out despite the domino effect of woes that snarled operations March 15, overall GA traffic at Aspen is actually down 18 percent for the first two months of 2008. That could be due to snowy weather, though Elwood says it may also signal a trend -- as private fliers chose to fly commercially, or bypass Aspen outright.

“There could be a trend that is tying better commercial service to fewer general aviation operations,” Elwood said, referencing Frontier's plan to start flights to Denver next month, offering competition to United Airlines, which a lock on that route for years through SkyWest. 

“With Frontier coming aboard, whether or not more (general aviation users) will be interested in flying the airlines, I’m not sure,” he said. “But I have heard a number of general aviation (users) say that if we had good commercial airline choices, in terms of available seats, that they would leave their airplanes at home.

“It will be curious to see what happens.”

FMI: www.aspenairport.com