Tomcich: Who is asking for bigger planes?

There has been an extraordinary and overwhelming amount of misinformation presented in op-eds and columns over the past months, and until now, I have refrained from attempting to correct any of them.

But Tuesday’s Aspen Daily News column by Roger Marolt crossed the line with an excessive amount of factual misinformation and incorrect speculation to allow it to go unchecked — especially when it follows accurate reporting last Friday of one of the most significant milestones in the history of the Aspen Airport: One Mile at a Time, “Aspen Airport Finally Getting Embraer E175 Flights!”

As a consultant to Fly Aspen Snowmass — a consortium consisting of the airport, Aspen Skiing Company, ACRA, and Snowmass Tourism, as well as as a citizen who served on ASE Vision’s Technical Working Group — I have an obligation to set the record straight.

---

---

Let me first address the opening sentence of Marolt’s column, where it’s suggested that the main reason behind the plan to widen our airstrip is “to accommodate larger aircraft.”

This false narrative has recently been popularized by a few vocal airport opponents. Other than the marginally larger and significantly quieter Airbus A220-100 — which was studied and overwhelmingly supported as a desirable future aircraft for ASE during the ASE Vision process — no one has ever heard from me or from any of the 123 citizens who participated in that 1.5-year-long process that the reason for the proposed airfield improvements is to accommodate larger aircraft. Ironically, the only local groups that are claiming we need a wider runway for bigger planes are Aspen Fly Right and Citizens Against Bigger Planes.

---

---

Rebuilding the runway at ASE has recently become imperative because of its failing condition, and the No. 1 reason the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is insisting that it be rebuilt to their current standards is for safety. It has been determined that the runway can be rebuilt to current safety design standards, so the FAA is insisting that it must.

Period, end of story.

Yes, the FAA’s John Bauer did say to the BOCC in April 2023 that we will see bigger planes with the new runway, but he never specified how much bigger these planes might be nor how many there might be.

I hope to help the community better understand the most likely scenarios over the coming weeks, while I am also hoping to help prove that the small number of slightly larger aircraft expected to be introduced with full ADG-III compliance will be quieter and actually better for the environment.

Meanwhile, the E175s are coming to ASE, having just been loaded into United’s selling schedules starting Dec. 3. As United Airlines stated last week, these aircraft will feature a total of 70 seats, not 76. This is the exact same number of seats as on SkyWest’s 19 remaining CRJ700s that still fly for United. The key difference is that those seats are going to be slightly wider, and there will be 12 first-class seats instead of six, along with twice as many roomier economy plus seats. So, the 19 new E175s as reported in SkyWest’s recent results call that are to begin replacing CRJ700s starting this December will carry the exact same number of total passengers.

Clearly, all the underlying assumptions of Marolt’s false claims in Tuesday’s column are flawed, as is the tray table math that was applied to his estimates of visitor increase.

Let me offer a far simpler calculation: It’s expected to be zero because these brand-new planes with identical total seating capacity will replace CRJ700s 1:1. At this point, United has not added any additional flights to their winter schedules beyond what was previously planned with CRJ700s, and there has been no increase in the total number of seats offered into ASE as a result of this planned aircraft swap.

I am also certain that visitors and locals alike are going to really appreciate and enjoy these new planes, just as they have at smaller airports like Sun Valley and Gunnison.

The introduction of the E175 at ASE signifies an enormous commitment from both United and SkyWest towards our airport’s future and our community’s economic vitality. Now, we as a community and Pitkin County as the airport sponsor owe it to them to make certain that we continue to have a viable and functional airport, including a new runway that will no longer need to be closed annually for repairs and maintenance.

Bill Tomcich is a consultant to Fly Aspen Snowmass and managing partner of Airplanners, Inc.