By: Ernest Gurulé
Flying in or out of Denver International Airport (DEN) can be a breeze or, sometimes, something completely different. Airlines are finding themselves under a torrent of criticism for everything from overbooking to cancellations to interminable delays. The list is actually longer, but for the moment, let’s keep things simple.
Smaller airports also have their problems. But, not surprisingly, they’re of a whole different nature and locals, as they often do, have found ways to work around them. They certainly have in Alamosa, the hub of the San Luis Valley.
On the bright side, Valley residents have the benefit of convenience, said Alamosa City Manager Heather Brooks, an executive who periodically must leave the comfort of her town to conduct business out of town or out of state. On the other end of the scale, there are those other things over which no one has control. Alamosa, after all, is a mountain town with mountain town weather.
“Having our local airport allows us to drive five minutes to open parking with a five-minute check in/security process,” said Brooks. Presto! From home to airport in minutes and you’re ready to board. “That is pretty hard to beat.”
The town’s airport is now in its eighth decade. The first shovelful of dirt on the airport was turned in 1939 with work completed two years later. Its first commercial flight followed in 1946 when a Monarch DC-3 took to the air. Later, Frontier Airlines—a different incarnation from today’s Frontier—filled the void with its Convair 580s. Both models are today aviation history.
Today, customers boarding in Alamosa fly Denver Air Connect, a regional carrier serving nine states in the Southwest and upper Midwest. The airline also serves Cortez.
Denver Air Connect operates three different aircraft, from the 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 Jet to the more modest to the Dornier 328 which seats 30 passengers to the efficient, ready-to-work Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner.
The Fairchild model seats nine and is often the aircraft of choice for the country’s most rural airports.
The Valley’s airport sits at an elevation of 7,539 feet making it one of the highest in the country. It is bordered to the north by the picturesque Sangre de Cristo Mountain range who boast a number of peaks rising above 14,000 feet. As a result, flying in or out of the Valley during one of the region’s rough winters when temperatures can plunge to arctic-like levels can also be problematic. But, said Brooks, because of the importance of having an airport—which is essential for maintaining the economic vitality of the community—Valley residents have found a way to work around these issues.
There are times, said the city’s chief executive, when weather might demand a several hour drive to Pueblo or Colorado Springs to make connections. It’s a fact of life here, she said, but it’s rare.
“Airports are critical for tourism, economic development, and quality of life,” said Brooks. Alamosa’s major employers, she said, need to fly out on business or fly people in. SLV Regional airport is also essential for Adams State University. “With the presence of ASU, we oftentimes have parents and family members fly in for ASU events, activities and games,” she said. The airport, she added, is also indispensable for the town and region’s hospital which regularly “utilizes the airport to transport materials to and from hospitals in the front range.”
SLV Regional Airport may seem quaint by certain standards. At its busiest, it may handle just over 80 aircraft operations in an entire day, slightly more than 30,000 for the year.
There is simply no comparison with an operation like DIA, now the third busiest airport in the world. But the contrast doesn’t change the airport’s importance to the town or the Valley, an area of more than 8,000 square miles and a swath of land several times larger than the state of Rhode Island.
It’s a small town, say locals. You give up a few things here and there for the benefit of having so many more, including a predictable and comfortable quality of life.
Airports like SLV Regional are essential for rural communities. In Alamosa’s case, they provide a lifeline
for local business and business people who, like everyone else, depend on airlines delivering essential equipment or ferrying business people to and from important meetings.
They’re also vital for hospitals who depend on them to carry seriously ill patients to facilities more capable of dealing with complicated medical issues.
Rural airports operate under federal subsidies. In 1978, Congress enacted the Essential Air Service program for towns like Alamosa and hundreds of others like it. Millions in federal aid is dedicated to rural airports where the driving distance is more than 70 miles from the nearest medium or large hub.
