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59-785: Durango–La Plata County Airport ( IATA : DRO , ICAO : KDRO , FAA LID : DRO ) is a city- and county-owned public airport 12 miles southeast of Durango , in La Plata County, Colorado . It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. Federal Aviation Administration records say it had 134,386 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 148,077 in 2009 and 163,611 in 2010. La Plata County Airport opened to commercial airline service in 1946. During

118-957: A Continental Express feeder in 1986 and continued the Denver flights through 1988 adding the Convair 580 aircraft as well. America West Airlines operated mainline Boeing 737 jet service to Phoenix from 1984 through 1991. Some flights would stop at Albuquerque or Grand Junction. The 737 jets were replaced with Dash-8 props from 1991 through 1992 then service was contracted out to Mesa Airlines as America West Express . Britt Airways followed Rocky Mountain Airways by operating Denver flights as Continental Express from 1991 through 1994 using Beechcraft 1900s and ATR 42s. GP Express then followed Britt Airways by operating Continental Connection service to Denver from 1994 through 1995 using Beechcraft 1900s. American Airlines began ski season service during

177-995: A United Express feeder carrier for United Airlines at the carriers' Denver hub. Aspen also flew to Albuquerque briefly in 1979 and again for the winter 1989–90 ski season. Rocky Mountain Airways briefly flew to Denver in January 1979 using de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7s . The carrier returned from 1987 through 1991 operating as Continental Express again using Dash-7s as well as ATR 42s , and Beechcraft 1900Cs . Zia Airlines flew commuter flights to Albuquerque in early 1980 using Handley Page Jetstreams . Desert Pacific Airlines flew to Los Angeles in 1980 making five stops en route and using Piper Navajos . Sun West Airlines flew to Albuquerque and Phoenix from 1980 through 1984 using Piper Navajos and later upgrading to Beechcraft C99s . Mesa Airlines operated multiple services at Durango. Flights to Albuquerque began in 1983 with Beechcraft C99s , later upgrading to Beechcraft 1900Ds and

236-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

295-464: A short time in late 1996 using a Fokker F28 Fellowship jet. Mountain Air Express operating on behalf of Western Pacific Airlines served Durango from Colorado Springs during the 1996/1997 ski season. The carrier used Dornier 328 prop aircraft. Rio Grande Air flew commuter flights to Albuquerque from 2000 through 2002 using Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft. United Express service to Denver

354-469: A wholly owned subsidiary separate from its Air Wisconsin airline from 1990 until April 3, 1991, when it merged the two airlines together. And the nearly 40 year legacy of the airline that pioneered service from Aspen, Colorado, came to an end. At the time of the separate sale and merger, Aspen Airways operated four BAe 146 jets and ten Convair 580 turboprops. The Convair 580 turboprops were parked and eventually sold while Air Wisconsin continued to fly

413-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

472-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

531-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

590-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

649-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

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708-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

767-938: Is now solely provided by Mesa Airlines using Canadair CRJ-900 regional jets. Seasonal Saturday only flights during the summer are now flown to Chicago and Los Angeles by SkyWest Airlines . Continental Express service operated by ExpressJet flew to Houston from December 2001 through September 2002 then again for the winter 2002–03 ski season using Embraer EMB-145 regional jets. Delta Connection service operated by SkyWest Airlines flew to Salt Lake City from mid-2006 through late 2008 using Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets. This daily service resumed on May 5, 2021, before ending on November 1, 2021, leaving only American, United, and Frontier Airlines flying to Durango–La Plata County Airport. The new Frontier Airlines provided service to Denver at first by way of its subsidiary company, Lynx Aviation , using de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402 Q400 prop aircraft from April 22, 2008, through 2011. Service

826-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

885-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

944-577: The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a now defunct Federal agency that then tightly regulated almost all US air transport. In 1962, the CAB provided Aspen with an exemption to allow it to operate one aircraft larger than 12,500lbs between Aspen and Denver. Aspen Airways was not immediately able to take advantage of this due to airport limitations in Aspen. The exemption was extended until in 1967,

1003-719: The Convair 340s had been upgraded to Convair 580 turboprop aircraft and all of the original Douglas DC-3 aircraft had been retired. Direct flights to Albuquerque were reinstated in 1969. During the summer of 1977, the La Plata County Airport was closed so that the main runway could be extended to handle jet traffic. Frontier Airlines then initiated the first jets to the airport in November 1977 with Boeing 737 flights to Denver making one stop in Pueblo, Colorado. Weekend flights were also added to Dallas/Fort Worth for

1062-722: The 1960s included a Fairchild F-27 turboprop (which didn't work out very well in the high density altitude conditions that can occur at high elevation mountain airfields), and piston and turboprop variants of the de Havilland Heron as well as Piper Navajo and Aero Commander 500B aircraft. A major competitor on the Aspen-Denver route for many years was Rocky Mountain Airways (RMA) which operated de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops. RMA then introduced new de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 four engine turboprop aircraft that were configured with 50 passenger seats. During

1121-506: The 1977–78 ski season. The flights to Phoenix, still operating with Convair 580s, were discontinued in 1979 and flights to Albuquerque ended in 1981. On June 1, 1982, Frontier had retired its Convair 580 aircraft fleet and was operating all 737 jets at Durango, now with nonstop flights to Denver and return flights stopping in Farmington. More weekend ski season jet flights were added to Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles for

1180-616: The 1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85 winter ski seasons. The 737 jets to Denver ended on October 1, 1984, and were replaced with Convair 580s operated by Frontier Commuter. Frontier Commuter ended all service in January 1985 and after Frontier's ski season flights ended by April 1, 1985, all Frontier representation at Durango was discontinued. Since the beginning of airline deregulation in 1978, many carriers, small and large, have served Durango: Aspen Airways flew to Denver from late 1978 through 1990 using Convair 580s and in 1985 introduced British Aerospace BAe 146-100 jets. In 1986 Aspen became

1239-486: The 2000s the airport continued to court additional service by new airlines while luring passenger traffic away from the Four Corners Regional Airport serving nearby Farmington, New Mexico. The airport covers 1,281 acres (518 ha ) at an elevation of 6,685 feet (2,038 m). Its one runway , 3/21, is 9,201 by 150 feet (2,804 x 46 m) asphalt. For the twelve-month period ending January 1, 2020,

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1298-602: The Albuquerque flights were operated on and off through 2005. Service to Denver began in 1990 as United Express and continued into 1998 using Beechcraft 1300s and 1900s and later upgraded with Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias and de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8s . Service to Phoenix began in 1987 and was changed to America West Express in 1992. Beechcraft 1900s, Embraer Brasilia's and Dash-8's were all used. Canadair CRJ-200 regional jets were introduced in 1999. America West Airlines merged into US Airways in 2007 at which time

1357-541: The BAe 146 jet aircraft as this regional carrier already operated the BAe 146 in their fleet. Aspen Airways served the following destinations as an independent airline or as a United Express air carrier at various different times during its existence. Not all of these destinations were served at the same time. Destination information is taken from Aspen Airways system timetables dated March 1, 1979, June 12, 1982, December 17, 1983, April 1, 1985 and July 21, 1986, and also from

1416-406: The CAB certificated Aspen Airways to fly the Aspen-Denver route, the first domestic airline certificated since the local service carriers were certificated in the late 1940s/early 1950s. From then on, until US airline deregulation in 1978, Aspen Airways was under the same regulatory regime as any other US carrier flying large aircraft, like American Airlines or United . In 1963, Aspen Airways

1475-531: The December 15, 1989, edition of the Official Airline Guide (OAG). Aspen Airways also flew British Aerospace BAe 146 jet service between Aspen (ASE) and the following destinations operating as United Express on behalf of United Airlines via a code sharing agreement: Aspen Airways operated the following aircraft during its existence: At the time of its acquisition and merger, Aspen

1534-653: The Phoenix flights began operating as US Airways Express . Then in 2015 US Airways merged into American Airlines which changed the Phoenix flights to American Eagle . All flights were upgraded with Canadair CRJ-900 aircraft a short time later and continue operating today. Pioneer Airlines flew to Albuquerque and Denver in 1982 and 1983 using Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners . Trans-Colorado Airlines began Durango service in mid 1983 with service to Denver and later added flights to Albuquerque and Colorado Springs using Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners . The carrier became

1593-508: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Aspen Airways Aspen Airways ( IATA : AP ,  ICAO : ASP ,  call sign : Aspen Air )

1652-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

1711-537: The airline. Its employees attempted to acquire the airline, but were unable to come up with the capital. Next, the Giant Group, a conglomeration of cement and recycling companies, offered to purchase the airline, but their offer fell through. In the end, Mesa Airlines acquired Aspen's Denver hub and routes except for the Denver to Aspen route, stations and ground equipment. Air Wisconsin Services Inc. ,

1770-410: The airport had 38,468 aircraft operations, average 105 per day: 70% general aviation , 15% airline, 13% air taxi , and 1% military. In June 2020, there were 69 aircraft based at this airport: 52 single- engine , 9 multi-engine, 5 jet, 1 helicopter , and 2 glider . The airport has three boarding gates, five plane stands, a pre-security restaurant, and a gift shop. It has free wi-fi internet throughout

1829-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

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1888-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

1947-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

2006-578: The connecting hub for the three routes. On June 1, 1950, Monarch was merged into Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) and a new route to Phoenix was added making five stops. The flights to Albuquerque and Salt Lake City had ended in the early 1950s as they were redirected through Farmington, New Mexico which then became Frontier's connecting hub for the four corners states. In 1959 Frontier acquired 44-passenger Convair 340 aircraft and new nonstop flights were added from Durango to Denver as well as new flights to Phoenix and Tucson that only stopped in Farmington. By 1966

2065-625: The early 1980's, Aspen Airways expanded by providing scheduled passenger airline within California including service at Lake Tahoe Airport (TVL) located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Convair 580 turboprops were flown on nonstop services to Burbank (BUR), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and San Jose (SJC) in California. At the same time, Aspen was also operating Convair 580 service between Los Angeles and Bakersfield (BFL). The airline even offered Convair 580 flights on

2124-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

2183-552: The first commercial jet airliner service into Aspen. It also inaugurated BAe 146 jet service from Denver to Amarillo (AMA) and Lubbock (LBB), from Denver to Farmington (FMN) and Durango (DRO), and from Denver to Gillette (GCC) and Sheridan (SHR). The BAe 146-100 is the smallest member of the British Aerospace 146 family of jetliners, many of which currently remain in operation in Europe as well as other parts of

2242-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

2301-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

2360-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

2419-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

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2478-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

2537-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

2596-512: The parent company for Air Wisconsin, acquired all of Aspen's common stock, its Aspen routes, and its BAe 146 and Convair 580 aircraft. In April 1995 during the late ski season, Air Wisconsin was operating shuttle service as United Express with BAe 146 jets on the former Aspen Airways route between Aspen and Denver with no less than fourteen (14) daily nonstop flights in each direction. Air Wisconsin Services continued to operate Aspen Airways as

2655-413: The passenger terminal. The first scheduled airline service to the La Plata County Airport began on November 27, 1946, when Monarch Air Lines initiated flights to Denver with stops at Monte Vista, Canon City, Pueblo, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Douglas DC-3 aircraft were used. By April 1, 1947, new routes were added to Albuquerque and Salt Lake City, each making several stops en route. Durango would be

2714-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

2773-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

2832-429: The summer of 1977 the airport was closed so the terminal building could be expanded and the runway was lengthened to handle jet traffic. Frontier Airlines then began operating Boeing 737 jets to the airport in the fall of 1977. The terminal was greatly expanded again in the 1990s as the airport began seeing a great increase in ski traffic and new service by American Airlines using McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets. During

2891-504: The summer of 2019 to Chicago and Houston by SkyWest Airlines . American Eagle began serving Durango from Dallas/Fort Worth from December 2001 through September 2002. The service returned in mid 2011 and has operated year-round since. Embraer EMB-135 and Embraer EMB-145 regional jets were first used. American Eagle service to Phoenix was added in late 2015 operated by both Mesa Airlines and SkyWest after American and US Airways merged. American Eagle service to Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix

2950-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

3009-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

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3068-777: The very short hop between Los Angeles International Airport and Burbank Airport as an extension of the Lake Tahoe service. The front cover of the September 1, 1980, system timetable for Aspen Airways had the message: "Specializing in service to.....Lake Tahoe, California & Aspen/Snowmass, Colorado." Essential Air Service (EAS) was operated between San Francisco and Modesto (MOD) and Stockton (SCK), California in 1982. In 1985, Aspen Airways acquired new British Aerospace BAe 146-100 four engine jetliners which featured quiet technology with regard to engine noise as well as short takeoff and landing performance and began operating

3127-440: The winter of 1994–95 with flights to Dallas/Fort Worth using McDonnell Douglas MD-80 mainline jets. The service continued for seven winter ski seasons, ending with the 2000–01 season. Reno Air operated one daily flight to Albuquerque which continued on to Los Angeles for the 1996–97 ski season. A McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jet was used. Air 21 flew a single daily flight to Grand Junction, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Fresno for

3186-1141: The world although not in the U.S. except in aerial fire fighting roles as converted air tankers . In September 1986, Aspen Airways became a United Express affiliate carrier, providing passenger feed to and from the United Airlines hub in Denver (DEN). By 1986, Aspen Airways was providing seasonal BAe 146 jet service from Aspen nonstop to Dallas/Ft Worth (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Houston (IAH), Chicago (ORD) and Long Beach (LGB). Service from Denver also included flights to Colorado Springs, Durango, Gunnison, Hayden, Montrose, and Rifle in Colorado as well as to Farmington, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sioux City and Waterloo, Iowa, and Cheyenne, Sheridan and Gillette in Wyoming. The airline also operated nonstop service at one point between Salt Lake City (SLC) and Aspen, Jackson Hole, Wyoming (JAC), and West Yellowstone, Montana (WYS). In 1989, Aspen offered itself up for sale. Several suitors attempted to purchase

3245-710: Was an airline carrier and regional affiliate of United Express and based in Hangar 5 in Stapleton International Airport in Denver , Colorado . Aspen ceased operations on April 1, 1990, when separate portions of the airline were acquired by Mesa Airlines and Air Wisconsin Services, Inc. Aspen Airways was named after the aspen tree and not the town of Aspen, Colorado , where it was originally based before moving its headquarters to Stapleton International Airport (DEN) in Denver. Aspen Airways

3304-467: Was founded in 1952 by Walter Paepcke , as the flight department of the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies . It was created to fly personnel between Aspen (ASE) and Denver (DEN). The airline's first aircraft were surplus Douglas DC-3s . Prior to 1967, Aspen Airways was an “air taxi”, an airline operating aircraft less than 12,500lbs in maximum weight, and therefore escaped regulation by

3363-454: Was purchased by J.W. "Bill" Ringsby. During the late 1960s, Aspen operated a Convair 240 prop aircraft leased from Alaska Airlines and by 1970 was operating four Convair 340 / Convair 440 prop airliners which were purchased used from Delta Air Lines . In the early 1970s, Aspen began operating Convair 580 turboprop aircraft. The twin engine CV-580 propjet became the workhorse of the Aspen fleet. Other aircraft operated by Aspen Airways in

3422-764: Was transferred in 1998 from Mesa Airlines to Air Wisconsin , and Great Lakes Airlines . Air Wisconsin flew Dornier 328prop and British Aerospace BAe-146 jets through 2003. Great Lakes flew Beechcraft 1900Ds through 2001. Mesa Airlines returned with Dash-8 flights to Denver from 2003 through 2010. SkyWest Airlines began United Express flights in 2001 with Embraer Brasilia's and service continues today, now with all regional jets. ExpressJet flew Embraer-145's from 2010 through 2015. Republic Airways began flights in 2012 with Dash-8-Q400's and later upgraded with Embraer 170's and 175's. GoJet began in 2014 with CRJ-700's and Trans States Airlines in 2015 with Embraer-145's, all to Denver. New Saturday only flights were added in

3481-927: Was upgraded in 2012 to Embraer EMB-190 regional jets operated by Republic Airways then upgraded again from 2013 through 2014 using Frontier Airlines mainline Airbus A319s . All service ended on October 25, 2014. In June 2021, Frontier returned to Durango with nonstop service to Denver and Las Vegas. American Eagle , flying for American Airlines , has year round nonstops to Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix on Canadair CRJ-900s and operates summer weekend seasonal flights to Los Angeles. United Express flights nonstop to Denver are flown on Canadair CRJ-200 , Canadair CRJ-700 , Embraer ERJ-145 , and Embraer 175 aircraft. On March 26, 2023 United Airlines began non-stop mainline flights to Denver using an Airbus A319 United Express began seasonal service to Houston–Intercontinental on June 24, 2023 utilizing an Embraer 175 aircraft. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

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