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Montrose Regional Airport

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Montrose Regional Airport
The entrance sign with the terminal building in the background
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorMontrose County
LocationMontrose, Colorado
Elevation AMSL5,759 ft / 1,755 m
Coordinates38°30′35.26″N 107°53′39.27″W / 38.5097944°N 107.8942417°W / 38.5097944; -107.8942417
Websitewww.flymontrose.com Edit this at Wikidata
Maps
FAA airport diagram
FAA airport diagram
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 10,000 3,048 Asphalt
13/31 7,510 2,289 Asphalt

Montrose Regional Airport (IATA: MTJ, ICAO: KMTJ, FAA LID: MTJ) is a non-towered public airport on the northwest side of Montrose, in zip code 81401 in southwestern Colorado. Its two runways are at elevation 5,759 feet (1,755 m). MTJ covers 966 acres (391 ha) of land.[1]

Monarch Airlines started flying to Montrose in the 1940s. Successor Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) flew to the present airport since the 1950s; the first jets were Frontier Boeing 737-200s in 1982 (runway 12/30 was then 8500 ft). Earlier, Frontier flew Convair 580s between Montrose and Denver.

An enhanced and expanded Montrose Regional Airport was dedicated on June 25, 1988, with Chuck Yeager 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 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."[2]

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, an hour and a half away by road;[3] it is also busy serving summer tourism in the area. Outside the winter and summer seasons, the only major airline flights are United Express and Southwest Airlines flights to Denver and American Eagle flights to Dallas/Fort Worth. Direct flights to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Atlanta are offered in peak seasons, with the most flights 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 is offered by Denver Air Connection,[4] with Montrose serving as the alternative, backup destination when weather would close the high-elevation Telluride airport.

Airlines and destinations

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Passenger

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AirlinesDestinationsRefs
American AirlinesDallas/Fort Worth
Breeze Airways Seasonal: Orange County (begins December 21, 2024)[5] [6]
Delta Air LinesSeasonal: Atlanta
Southwest AirlinesDenver
Seasonal: Dallas–Love[7]
United AirlinesDenver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Newark
United ExpressDenver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Los Angeles, San Francisco

Statistics

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Passengers

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Annual passenger traffic at MTJ airport. See Wikidata query.

Top destinations

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Busiest domestic routes from MTJ
(April 2022 - March 2023)
[8]
Rank City Passengers Airlines
1 Denver, Colorado 118,000 United, Southwest
2 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 59,000 American
3 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 16,000 American, United
4 Atlanta, Georgia 13,000 Delta
5 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 11,000 United
6 Newark, New Jersey 6,000 United
7 Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona 6,000 American
8 San Francisco, California 3,000 United
9 Dallas-Love Field, Texas 2,000 Southwest
10 Los Angeles, California 1,000 American, United

Airline market share

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Airline market share (April 2022 - March 2023)[9]
Rank Carrier Passengers Market

Share

1 SkyWest 125,000 26.74%
2 Southwest 111,000 23.76%
3 American 98,270 20.95%
4 United 69,110 14.73%
5 Mesa 30,100 6.42%
Others 34,720 7.40%

2010-2011 terminal project

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Montrose Regional Airport remodeled and expanded the passenger terminal, adding 10,935 square feet (1,015.9 m2) by lengthening the terminal 80 feet (24 m) to the south. The expansion added space for passenger check-in, larger departure lounge, and space at the security checkpoint.

Based aircraft and operations

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In the year ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 23,414 aircraft operations, average 64 per day: 26% air carrier, 1% air taxi, 72% general aviation and 1% military. At the time, there were 93 aircraft based at MTJ, 70 single-engine, 13 multi-engine, 3 jets, 3 helicopters, 3 gliders and 1 ultra-light.[1]

Major accidents near MTJ

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  • On April 13, 1973, a Continental Airlines North American Sabreliner on a positioning flight crashed shortly after takeoff when a thrust reverser deployed in flight. Both occupants on board were killed.[10]
  • 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, the son of Dick Ebersol and Susan Saint James, died.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Form 5010 for MTJ PDF, effective December 30, 2021.
  2. ^ Thomas J. Noel (16 July 2018). "Montrose Regional Airport". SAH Archipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  3. ^ Google maps reports 1 hour 31 minutes drive in good weather conditions.
  4. ^ "First-ever commercial jet service coming to Telluride". KUSA.com. April 9, 2019. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. ^ "Breeze Airways Adds New Routes to Las Vegas, Florida, and More — With 35% Off Flights for a Limited Time". July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  6. ^ "Breeze Airways Destinations". Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  7. ^ "2023 - 2024 Winter Flight Schedule". Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  8. ^ "RITA | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. January 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "OST_R | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Accident description for N743R at the Aviation Safety Network
  11. ^ Accident description for N873G at the Aviation Safety Network
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