The effects were felt in 2020 at the Aspen airport, which had 4,314 commercial flights amounting to 188,873 passenger enplanements, a 40% decline from the 306,546 people in 2019, according to Pitkin County flight data. Yet it crippled the commercial airline industry in 2020 - 43 commercial airlines either suspended operations or went out of business, and the overall aviation industry reported a 65.9% drop in demand from 2019, with losses of $118 billion, according to McGill and Partners.
General aviation actually saw a boost in the number of Aspen departures and arrivals in January and February over the same month in 20, following a trend going back to May 2020, according to a recent presentation by Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock on key economic indicators from the pandemic. “I have so many clients that come here and fly private,” Rockhill said, “and I try to be able to make it as seamless as possible for them.” In her April newsletter, Rockhill announced a partnership she had formed with a charter service for guests or homebuyers to use. People with the financial means to buy property in Aspen and surrounding areas also have the means to charter a private jet, something not lost on Aspen property broker Brittanie Rockhill. The pandemic last summer touched off a buying frenzy of Aspen area homes resulting in a sellers’ market that saw county the record $3 billion in total property transactions in 2020 (that figure includes agricultural and commercial as well as residential properties).
Aspen airport arrivals departures full#
“With the influx of new part-time and full-time residents, the airports are full and there was no place to hangar more airplanes,” said Robert Holton, who with Jeff Posey opened Rifle Aviation at Rifle Garfield County Airport. The pandemic has, in fact, generated such a demand for private flights to Sardy Field- given that more commercial flights were grounded than in the air during the outbreak’s peak - that two Aspen residents recently opened an operation at Rifle Garfield County Airport to accommodate spillover private aircraft (also known as general aviation) from the Aspen and Vail airports. That has been evident by the swelling sea of private aircraft Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. Knowing they can work remotely with a world of leisure and recreation outside their backdoor, new homeowners and affluent visitors looking to escape suburban and big-city life not only have ignited the Aspen-area real estate market, but also the business of private aviation. As commercial airlines limp through the pandemic, private traffic dominates 3-to-1 in Aspen
0 kommentar(er)
