Gridlock in the Skies Over Aspen

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 29th 2005 at 12:05PM

For those who love winter sports Aspen is the ultimate place to play, but is there a fly in the ointment? The Aspen Times has a piece of the difficulties of flying into Aspen. Because this is such a playground of the elite, private planes are coming in droves causing scheduling delays. Some jets have been denied landing spots and been forced to circle for a while before landing or diverted to other areas. For the busy season in Aspen the FAA uses the Special Traffic Management Program which creates times slots and gives priority to commercial planes with first come first served for private planes. Fractional companies have a little bit sway than those who own a jet themselves since they have designated people who work on reserving slots which has led to some resentment.The FAA says that is is doing all it can so the bottom line is that if you are flying into Aspen you may need to be patient about landing your private jet.

Tags: aspen, colorado, fractional ownership, private planes, PrivatePlanes, winter sports