Aspen Airways was an airline carrier and regional affiliate of

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

and based in Hangar 5 in

Stapleton International Airport Stapleton International Airport was a major airport in the western United States, and the primary airport of Denver, Colorado, from 1929 to 1995. It was a hub for Continental Airlines, the original Frontier Airlines, People Express, United ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

. Aspen ceased operations on April 1, 1990, when separate portions of the airline were acquired by

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...

and Air Wisconsin Services, Inc.

History

Aspen Airways was named after the aspen tree and not the town of

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...

, where it was originally based before moving its headquarters to

(DEN) in Denver. Aspen Airways 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 Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (C ...

(ASE) and

(DEN). The airline's first aircraft were surplus

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...

Convair 580 N5818 Aspen Aws DEN Stapleton 20

In 1963, Aspen Airways was purchased by J.W. "Bill" Ringsby. During the late 1960s, Aspen operated a

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

prop aircraft leased from

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the num ...

and by 1970 was operating four

Convair 340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

Convair 440 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

prop airliners which were purchased used from

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along ...

. In the early 1970s, Aspen began operating

Convair 580 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

turboprop aircraft. The twin engine CV-580 propjet became the workhorse of the Aspen fleet. Other aircraft operated by Aspen Airways in 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 The de Havilland DH.114 Heron is a small propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more engines. It was designed as a rugg ...

as well as

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin America Latin Ameri ...

and

Aero Commander Aero Commander was an aircraft manufacturer formed in 1944. In subsequent years, it became a subsidiary of Rockwell International and Gulfstream Aerospace. The company ceased aircraft production in 1986. History Aero was formed in Culver City, C ...

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 The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restart ...

turboprops. RMA then introduced new de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 four engine turboprop aircraft that were configured with 50 passenger seats. In 1985, Aspen Airways acquired new

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

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 the first commercial

jet airliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly clas ...

service into Aspen. It also inaugurated BAe 146 jet service from Denver to

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

(AMA) and

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

(LBB), from Denver to

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

(FMN) and

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

(DRO), and from Denver to

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gill ...

(GCC) and

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

(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 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

affiliate carrier, providing passenger feed to and from the

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

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). Aspen Airways also provided scheduled passenger airline service at

Lake Tahoe Airport Lake Tahoe Airport is a public airport three miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. It covers and has one runway; it is sometimes called Tahoe Valley Airport. History The airport in the Sierra Nevada just south ...

(TVL) located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California at one point.

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 the very short hop between

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...

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." 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).

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

(EAS) was operated via a between San Francisco and Modesto (MOD) and Stockton (SCK), California in 1982. In 1989, Aspen offered itself up for sale. Several suitors attempted to purchase the airline. Its

employees Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...

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,

acquired Aspen's Denver hub and routes except for the Denver to Aspen route, stations and ground equipment. Air Wisconsin Services Inc., 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

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 a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

separate from its Air Wisconsin airline from 1990 until April 3, 1991, when it

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

the two airlines together. And the nearly 40 year legacy of the airline that pioneered service from Aspen, Colorado, came to an end.

Final Fleet & Replacement Air Service at Aspen

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 Air Wisconsin Airlines is a regional airline based at Appleton International Airport in the town of Greenville, Wisconsin near Appleton. Air Wisconsin originally operated as one of the original United Express partners in 1985, and operated ...

continued to fly the BAe 146 jet aircraft as this regional carrier already operated the BAe 146 in their fleet.

Destinations

Aspen Airways served the following destinations as an independent airline or as a

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 the December 15, 1989, edition of the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight st ...

(OAG).http://www.departedflights.com, Dec. 15, 1989 edition, Official Airline Guide (OAG) * Albuquerque, NM (ABQ) * Amarillo, TX (AMA) * Aspen, CO (ASE) - focus destination, principally for

service to

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

hubs and other cities served by United * Bakersfield, CA (BFL) * Billings, MT (BIL) * Burbank, CA (BUR) * Casper, WY (CPR) * Cheyenne, WY (CYS) * Cody, WY (COD) * Colorado Springs, CO (COS) * Denver, CO (DEN) -

(now closed): Hub and headquarters for the airline * Durango, CO (DRO) * Farmington, NM (FMN) * Gillette, WY (GCC) * Grand Forks, ND (GFK) * Grand Junction, CO (GJT) * Great Falls, MT (GTF) * Gunnison, CO (GUC) * Hayden, CO (HDN) * Jackson Hole, WY (JAC) * Lake Tahoe, CA (TVL) * Laramie, WY (LAR) * Los Angeles, CA (LAX) * Lubbock, TX (LBB) * Midland/Odessa, TX (MAF) * Modesto, CA (MOD) * Montrose, CO (MTJ) * Rapid City, SD (RAP) * Rifle, CO (RIL) * Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) * San Francisco, CA (SFO) * San Jose, CA (SJC) * Sheridan, WY (SHR) * Sioux City, IA (SUX) * Stockton, CA (SCK) * Waterloo, IA (ALO) * West Yellowstone, MT (WYS) Aspen Airways also flew British Aerospace BAe 146 jet service between Aspen (ASE) and the following destinations operating as

on behalf of

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

via a

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

agreement: * Chicago, IL (ORD) * Denver, CO (DEN) * Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) * Houston, TX (IAH) * Long Beach, CA (LGB) * Los Angeles, CA (LAX) * San Francisco, CA (SFO)

Fleet

Aspen Airways operated the following aircraft during its existence: *

500B *

BAe 146-100 ''(only jet aircraft type operated by the airline)'' *

* Fairchild F-27 *

At the time of its acquisition and merger, Aspen was operating BAe 146 jet and Convair 580 turboprop aircraft.

References

External links

{{United Express Carriers Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1952 Airlines disestablished in 1991 Defunct companies based in Denver American companies established in 1952 1952 establishments in Colorado 1991 disestablishments in Colorado American companies disestablished in 1991

History

Final Fleet & Replacement Air Service at Aspen

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links