Montrose Regional Airport is a non-towered public airport on the northwest side of Montrose, in zip code 81401 in southwestern

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. Its two runways are at elevation 5,759 feet (1,755 m). MTJ covers 966 acres (391 ha) of land. Monarch Airlines started flying to Montrose in the 1940s. Successor

Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

flew to the present airport since the 1950s; the first jets were Frontier

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

s in 1982 (runway 12/30 was then 8500 ft). Earlier, Frontier flew

Convair 580 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s between Montrose and Denver. An enhanced and expanded Montrose Regional Airport was dedicated on June 25, 1988, with

Chuck Yeager Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the ...

cutting the ribbon. The airport terminal was designed by local architect Patrik Davis "to greet visitors with small-town hospitality. A two-sided fireplace is the centerpiece of the passenger seating area, which has a tile floor patterned with the Ute

pictogram A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...

for travel and a high, skylighted ceiling of knotty pine. The walls are earthy, ground-face cinderblock, and natural-finished glue-laminated beams extend over wide walkways. The gable roof has skylights and dormers decorated with the Hopi good luck symbol." Its runway 17/35 (10,000 feet in length) was built during the 1990s. The airport is most busy during its winter season, serving many skiers headed to

Telluride Ski Resort Telluride Ski Resort is a ski resort located in Mountain Village, Colorado. The Telluride Ski Resort is located in the southwest corner of Colorado. The resort is in the northwestern San Juan Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountains, and is home ...

, an hour-and-a-half away by road; it is also busy serving summer tourism in the area. In 2019, outside the winter and summer seasons, the only major airline flights were

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

flights to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

flights to Dallas/Fort Worth. Direct flights to Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and other cities are offered in peak seasons, with the most flights on Saturdays. American's service to their hub at New York's

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

only operates on Saturdays in the winter, due to perimeter restrictions at LGA which are only lifted on Saturdays. Montrose Regional is the nearest airport with regularly scheduled mainline passenger jets to ski areas around Telluride. Some direct service to Telluride's small airport was offered by Boutique Air in 2018, with Montrose serving as the alternative, backup destination when weather would close the high-elevation Telluride airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

2010-2011 terminal project

Montrose Regional Airport remodeled and expanded the passenger terminal, adding 10,935 sq. ft. by lengthening the terminal 80 feet to the south. The expansion added space for passenger check-in, larger departure lounge, and space at the security checkpoint.

Based aircraft and operations

In the year ending December 31, 2017, the airport had 36,550 aircraft operations, average 100 per day: 19%

air carrier An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

, <1%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, 75%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

and 5% military. At the time, there were 81 aircraft based at MTJ, 59 single-engine, 13 multi-engine, two jets, three helicopters, three gliders and one ultra-light.

Major accidents near MTJ

*On April 13, 1973, a Continental Airlines

North American Sabreliner The North American Sabreliner, later sold as the Rockwell Sabreliner, is an American mid-sized business jet developed by North American Aviation. It was offered to the United States Air Force (USAF) in response to its Utility Trainer Experimen ...

on a positioning flight crashed shortly after takeoff when a thrust reverser deployed in flight, and both occupants on board were killed. *On November 28, 2004, a Global Aviation Canadair CL-600 with six occupants on board crashed shortly after takeoff due to ice and snow contamination on the wings. Two crew members and one passenger died.

References

External links

* {{US-airport-ga, MTJ Airports in Colorado Transportation buildings and structures in Montrose County, Colorado Montrose, Colorado