2009 Vail Travel Summer Schedule

Runway Construction
Eagle County Regional Airport air traffic will be limited to smaller aircraft in summer 2009 as EGE’s primary runway will be closed for maintenance. The closure is scheduled for April 15 – August 31, 2009 with dates subject to change . Smaller aircraft will still have the ability to land on an interim runway while primary runway maintenance is conducted. After exhausting all possible options, Eagle County Regional Airport has been unable to secure airline service to operate on the interim runway next summer.

According to Chris Anderson, Terminal Manager, project scope was analyzed to ensure that the closure would occur during a period of the year that incurs the lowest passenger and traffic numbers. Once construction is complete in September, regular air service is expected to resume with improvements bringing increased safety and passenger capacity.

Renovation efforts include milling and resurfacing of the eastern half of the runway and a complete restoration of the western half, both processes are ‘typical’ of every airport from time to time according to Airport Director Ovid Seifers. “This type of runway rehabilitation is not an abnormal occurrence at any airport,” said Seifers. “Like roads, runways need repair work every 15 to 20 years. Next year just happens to be Eagle County’s time.” Last year, Aspen Airport’s runway was closed 84 days for renovation. “After a thorough investigation, county engineers and the FAA decided it is not feasible to continue aircraft operations on EGE’s primary runway during 2009 summer months due to the runway renovation,” says Seifers. “We’ve looked at every alternative, but with the type of renovation we’ll be doing, it’s not possible for the runway to be used during this time. If there is a silver lining, it is that EGE will be able to accommodate smaller, private aircraft on a temporary runway, which normally serves as EGE’s primary taxiway.”

Eagle County Regional Airport remains committed to providing its passengers the highest possible level of service and accessibility in and out of Eagle County. For further information, please call 970-524-8246 or visit www.eaglecounty.us/airport for updated runway construction reports.