Angel Fire Airport receives $680K in upgrades
TAOS — Colfax County-owned Angel Fire Airport is undergoing major renovations to its buildings and runway, with a projected cost of more than $680,000.
The project includes resurfacing the runway, building six hangars and a new floor and paint job for the terminal’s interior.
“A lot of stuff going on here at this little airport that’s not seen much action in the past while,” said Fraser MacPhee, 62, the airport manager and a pilot for more than 30 years.
The public-use airport began the renovations March 21 and expects them to be completed soon. The project schedule was designed to take advantage of the start of the slow season as the ski tourism industry winds down.
The Angel Fire Airport is more than 1 mile north of the town’s business center and covers 220 acres. At an elevation of 8,380 feet, it’s the highest airport in New Mexico and the fourth highest in the United States.
“We range anywhere from 110 to 150 aircraft operations per month,” MacPhee said, referring to landings and takeoffs.
Most of the air traffic at the airport comes from Texas — Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth — bringing skiers and golfers to their second homes in Angel Fire.
In addition to public use for propeller and jet planes, the airport serves military aircraft practicing takeoffs and landings.
“Because we are at this elevation, it’s beneficial for them to practice at this airport, so that they get used to these higher-altitude operations that they might encounter in places like Afghanistan,” MacPhee said.
“In fact, we had a C-130 in here from an Air Force base in Georgia just a couple of weeks ago, because they have to do three high-altitude airport operational practice sorties each year,” he said. “The other two were in Colorado, but they chose Angel Fire to do three full-stop landings and takeoffs so they could certify their crews for high-mountain operations in foreign countries.”
This story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of the Santa Fe New Mexican.