Telluride Regional Airport is a public airport six miles west of Telluride, in San Miguel County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...

, United States. It is owned by the Telluride Regional Airport Authority. At an elevation of 9,078 feet (2767 m) above sea level, it was the highest commercial airport in North America with scheduled passenger flights when

Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

resumed scheduled passenger service in December 2016; however, those flights ceased in March 2018. In August 2018, commercial service returned with the introduction of

Boutique Air Boutique Air, Inc. is a commuter airline based in San Francisco, California. The airline offers charter services as well as scheduled passenger services subsidized under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Boutique operates the second lar ...

, and the airport remains the highest airfield in the U.S. with scheduled passenger flights, and the second highest overall airfield in the US behind Leadville Airport. Denver Air Connection is currently the only airline flying scheduled passenger flights from Telluride with daily nonstop flights to

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 ...

and

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

. Denver Air operates the Fairchild-Dornier 328JET into Telluride. The 328JET is one of the few regional jet airliners in service capable of operating at such high field elevations as TEX.

Facilities and aircraft

Telluride Regional Airport covers and has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

, 9/27, . The runway is on a plateau and still dips slightly in the center, although the dip was more pronounced prior to a renovation in 2009. It can be a challenging but beautiful approach for pilots. In the past during winter months, about 20% of the scheduled commuter airline flights were diverting to other airports because of abruptly adverse landing conditions. This is not unusual since other mountain airports like Sun Valley have similar statistics. When flying to the Telluride Regional Airport, pilots must be aware of unique issues impacting the airfield including high terrain exceeding , as well as the airport's location on a plateau with a thousand-foot () drop to the San Miguel River below. Private business jets operate into the Telluride Regional Airport on a regular basis. Other scheduled passenger jet service is available via the

Montrose Regional Airport Montrose Regional Airport is a non-towered public airport on the northwest side of Montrose, in zip code 81401 in southwestern Colorado. Its two runways are at elevation 5,759 feet (1,755 m). MTJ covers 966 acres (391 ha) of land. Monarch Airli ...

(MTJ), the Durango-La Plata County Airport (DRO) and the Grand Junction Regional Airport (GJT). In the year ending 2019, the airport had 9,402 aircraft operations, average 26 per day: 99%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

and <1% scheduled commercial. 27 aircraft were then based at this airport: 67% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 11% multi-engine, 14% jet, <1%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

and <1%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

Airlines and destinations

Historical airline service

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 ...

introduced the first commercial airline service to Telluride on December 19, 1985, with flights to Albuquerque and Denver using

Beechcraft 1900C The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With ...

turboprops. Flights to Phoenix were added a few months later. Monarch Airlines was serving the airport in 1987 with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop flights from Aspen, Crested Butte, Grand Junction and Vail with the latter service being flown from the Eagle County Regional Airport.

Rocky Mountain Airways Rocky Mountain Airways was an American commuter airline headquartered in Hangar No. 6 of Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. It was sold to Texas Air Corporation/Continental Airlines in 1986 and was operated as a Continental Expr ...

operating as

Continental Express Continental Express was the operating brand name used by a number of independently owned regional airlines providing commuter airliner and regional jet feeder service under agreement with Continental Airlines. In 2012 at the time of the merger ...

on behalf of Continental Airlines served Telluride from 1986 through mid-1991 flying 19-passenger

and 50-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops nonstop to Denver (DEN). Some flights stopped in Aspen (ASE) during the 1986/1987 ski season. The four-engine, STOL capable Dash 7 was the largest aircraft ever to provide scheduled passenger service into Telluride. The

service to Denver was operated by

Britt Airways Britt Airways was a United States airline established as Vercoa Air Service in 1964 and renamed to Britt Airlines when it was purchased by William and Marilyn Britt in 1975 later on ''Britt Airways''. It was based in Terre Haute, Indiana until 19 ...

from mid-1991 through March 8, 1994, then replaced with

Continental Connection Continental Connection was a brand name under which several commuter airline carriers and their holding companies operated services marketed exclusively by Continental Airlines. As such, all Continental Connection banner carrier services were oper ...

service operated by GP Express Airlines until January 1995. StatesWest Airlines flew

turboprops nonstop to Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ with continuing service to Orange County and Los Angeles on Saturdays only during the 1989/1990 ski season. SkyWest Airlines operating as the

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a regional airline brand name for Delta Air Lines, under which a number of individually owned regional airlines primarily operate short- and medium-haul routes. Mainline major air carriers often use regional airlines to ope ...

flew nonstop

Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as a modular series of ...

service to Los Angeles (

LAX 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 W ...

) during the 1990/1991, 1991/1992, and 1992/1993 ski seasons.

WestAir Commuter Airlines WestAir Commuter Airlines (IATA:OE, VB/ICAO WCA, SDU), was a U.S.-based regional airline formed when Stol Air Commuter changed its name in 1978 to WestAir Airlines; it was renamed WestAir Commuter Airlines in 1986. One of the founders was Mauri ...

operating as

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 ...

flew an

turboprop nonstop to Los Angeles on Saturdays only during the 1992/1993 ski season. In 1990 the Mesa Airlines flights to Denver began 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.

and in 1992 the Phoenix flights began operating as

America West Express America West Express was the brand name for America West Airlines commuter and regional flights operated by Mesa Air Group's Mesa Airlines under a code share agreement. Today Mesa Airlines operates for American Eagle. Mesa Airlines operated Am ...

on behalf of

America West Airlines America West Airlines was a major American airline, founded in 1981, with service commencing in 1983, and having reached US$1 billion in annual revenue in 1989, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. At the time of its acquisition of US Airways, Americ ...

and

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombard ...

aircraft were periodically added to the flight schedules. The Albuquerque flights ended after the 1992/1993 ski season and the Denver flights ended in early 1998 being replaced by Great Lakes Airlines. The Phoenix flights were upgraded to operate with

turboprops in 1998 and then changed over to operate as

US Airways Express US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously ...

in 2007 when America West Airlines and US Airways merged. All service by Mesa Airlines ended on April 4, 2011.

began service to Telluride in mid 1998 by taking over the

contract formerly held by Mesa Airlines. Great Lakes flew Beechcraft 1900Ds nonstop to Denver and changed over to operating under their own identity in early 2002 after the carrier lost its designation as a

code sharing air carrier. Service to Telluride continued until September 16, 2014. Great Lakes returned to the airport in December 2016 with flights to

and later

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

with one stop en route; however, all service ended once again on March 30, 2018, when Great Lakes ceased all of their operations with turboprop aircraft.

was then recruited to reinstate commercial airline service at Telluride with flights to Denver beginning on August 29, 2018. The carrier uses 9-seat single-engine Pilatus PC-12 turboprop aircraft. Service to Cortez with continuing service to Phoenix was added in mid-2019 but all service ended on October 31, 2019.

Key Lime Air Key Lime Air is a United States airline with corporate headquarters at Centennial Airport in Englewood, Colorado, within the Denver metropolitan area. Established in 1997, Key Lime Air operates scheduled air service, various types of public and ...

operating as Denver Air Connection began the first scheduled jet service into Telluride on May 15, 2019, with the

Fairchild Dornier 328JET The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is a commuter airliner, based upon the turboprop-powered Dornier 328, developed by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH. It would be the last Dornier-designed aircraft to reach production before ...

on a daily flight to Denver. The service will operate year-round with the exception of two short seasonal breaks in the spring and fall.

Renovation

Between April 7 and November 4, 2009, the Telluride runway was closed for a $24 million runway renovation. The west end of the runway was lowered 30 feet, and the east end 14 ft. The material removed was placed in the center, removing the notorious dip in the middle of the runway. In addition, 41 feet of length was added to the runway and retaining walls were built on the side. In 2010, crews widened the airfield's safety areas from 150 feet to 250 feet, installed an

Engineered Materials Arrestor System An engineered materials arrestor system, engineered materials arresting system (EMAS), or arrester bed is a bed of engineered materials built at the end of a runway to reduce the severity of the consequences of a runway excursion. Engineered ma ...

(EMAS) and finished ancillary aspects of the projects. Work on the EMAS was scheduled at night to prevent disrupting operations. This system is designed in part to allow larger aircraft to utilize the airport.

Statistics

Media appearances

Telluride Regional Airport is the destination in the "Telluride Landing" mission supplied with ''

Microsoft Flight Simulator X ''Microsoft Flight Simulator X'' (abbreviated as ''FSX'') is a 2006 flight simulation video game originally developed by Aces Game Studio and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to '' Microsoft Flight ...

''. The player must land a Bombardier Learjet 45 with passengers on board. Part of an episode of ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, made for Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November ...

'' was filmed at the airport, in which the presenters tried to get some Jaguar Cars up to and then stop before going over the cliff at the end of the runway.

References

External links

FAA TEX
* {{US-airport-ga, TEX Airports in Colorado Buildings and structures in San Miguel County, Colorado Transportation in San Miguel County, Colorado