The Eagle County Airport, which serves visitors to Vail and Beaver Creek took another huge step to bring in more visitors last year when it expanded the runway another 1,000 feet to give it room to accept larger flights into the valley. The runway expansion was completed this September and cost $22,000,000-, and now the length is 9,000 feet. According to Chris Anderson, Airport Manager, EGE will be the third largest airport in the state, following only Denver and Colorado Springs.  He also stated that bookings are up 4% ahead of last year, and 2% ahead of 2007, which is considered a pre-recession year. He also estimated that 50% of the Valley’s destination visitors fly in through Eagle County Airport.

In addition to the good news on the runway expansion, there was another new introduction to the Valley. Bombardier, out of Canada, has introduced the CRJ-700, which is a 70 passenger, two engine jet, and will replace the United Express turbo prop jets. These new jets have a range of several thousand miles and offer more flexibility to the airlines. The 757 carries 188 passengers, so flights which only came in once a day can now come in twice or more per day. The fact that it carries smaller numbers will mean more small and mid sized airports can be served.

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