With pent-up travel demand, Aspen flights up

The end of Aspen’s winter season and the upcoming summer tourist season are looking up after American Airlines added more flights and a new direct flight from Austin, Texas, an official said Wednesday.

The 19 scheduled summer flights per day — including the new service from Austin — rival the record of 20 flights per day set in 2019, said Bill Tomcich, a local airline consultant.

“It’s very impressive,” Tomcich said.

“(Airlines) are very bullish on leisure travel. And this market in particular has been performing better than other mountain markets.”

First things first.

The rest of the winter ski season is really looking up, Tomcich said, especially after a bleak January with record-level cases of COVID-19 that shuttered restaurants and led to plunging hotel reservations.

January is generally a month that sees many international travelers from places such as Australia and Brazil, he said, as well as an influx of spectators for the Winter X Games, which didn’t allow spectators this year.

February improved a bit, however, with airplane load factors up to 63% from around 50% in December and January, according to Tomcich. Total flights in February were down 31.5% over February 2020 numbers.

But March and the first half of April are definitely looking up, he said. United Airlines has sold out all its flights in early April, which is leading to a shortage of capacity at that time, Tomcich said.

From March 4 to 27, United and American are operating 22 to 27 flights a day into Aspen, according to Tomcich.

From March 28 to April 5, the two airlines plan to bring 11 to 16 flights a day into Aspen’s airport.

Even the number of offseason flights from April 6 to May 5 are scheduled to be greater than ever before, he said.

“We’re seeing an incredible surge of demand for the rest of March and into April,” he said. “April is going to be busier than usual.”

The increasing number of vaccinations, the solid spring snow and the fact that the Pitkin County

Board of Health recently heeded a recommendation from the Aspen Chamber Resort Association to curtail the traveler affidavit program and make a negative COVID-19 test a recommendation rather than a requirement all added to the surge, Tomcich said.

Rich Englehart, the airport’s interim director, said he has noticed the difference in traveler numbers.

“We’re seeing the increases,” he said Wednesday.

“I think the vaccines are having an impact and people are starting to travel. I think there’s pent-up demand.”

For the upcoming summer tourist season, Tomcich said he sees nothing but good news so far.

American Airlines’ Saturday nonstop flight from Austin — which begins June 5 — is the first new service route into Aspen since 2017, when a nonstop from Phoenix began, he said.