The Eagle County Regional Airport began offering full winter air programs on Dec. 16. From cities such as Phoenix, Miami, New York, Dallas, and Denver, 13 direct flights are scheduled for this season. Following a year of declines driven by the pandemic, thankfully winter air service appears to be on the rise for the upcoming season.
American Airlines and United Airlines are experiencing load factors of more than 80% through December. Most passengers at the airport are transported by these two airlines. Eagle County is also served by Delta Airlines .
Even though the schedule for the season is similar to that of the past two, there are still some challenges facing the industry. The routes to Eagle County remain the same as the ones in 2019. This will be the case also in 2022.
Industry challenges for Eagle County
The biggest challenge for airlines is a lack of flexibility. Airlines were seeing pilot shortages before the COVID-19 pandemic. This difficulty has not changed. In addition, storms and delays at one airline hub can reverberate through the entire system.
Schedules continue to be tweaked on the fly, making travel itineraries sometimes hard to keep up with. Staying in touch with their airlines and checking frequently at the FlyVail.com website is paramount to having a successful trip to Eagle this Winter.
One of those tweaks is the seasonal American Airlines flight to Phoenix. That flight will run from December into the first week of January, then stop until March. The route will then run to the ski season's end in April.
These challenges aren't unique to just Eagle County Airport. All across the country unique logistical developments are making holiday and especially ski related travel much more difficult than in years past. With Eagle County Airport, however, these issues are exacerbated due to the limited flight schedules and tendency of weather-related flight cancellations. Airport transportation services at Eagle are also being impacted by these latest travel developments.
For more update and latest flight information about Eagle County Regional Airport, please visit the official Eagle Airport Information site:
Mask Mandates
Federal officials continue mask mandates on aircraft and in passenger terminals. The current mandate also applies to ground transportation systems that receive federal funding. That means bus passengers will also have to mask up while riding.
At the commercial passenger terminal in Gypsum travelers will have new amenities this season. Tailwind, a new concessionaire, will have restaurants open on both the passenger and public sides of the terminal in time for the holiday season.
In addition to rental car, taxi, shuttle and bus service, passengers this season will be able to use the Lyft ride-sharing service. Negotiations continue with Uber to allow those drivers to also ferry passengers to and from the airport.
This is the first season Lyft drivers can access the airport.
For those flying in on private aircraft, the Vail Valley Jet Center is working on a large new hangar west of the airport administration building.