Telluride Regional Airport

Telluride Regional Airport
IATA: TEX – ICAO: KTEX – FAA LID: TEX TEX TEX (Colorado) Location of the Airport in Colorado
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Telluride Regional Airport Authority
Serves	Telluride, Colorado
Elevation AMSL	9,070 ft / 2,767 m
Coordinates
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 9/27 6,870 2,094 Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations 26,709 Based aircraft 42
Sources: airport website and FAA

Telluride Regional Airport (IATA: TEX, ICAO: KTEX, FAA LID: TEX) is a public airport six miles west of Telluride, in San Miguel County, Colorado. It is owned by the Telluride Regional Airport Authority. At an elevation of 9,078 feet (2767 m) above sea level, it was the highest commercial airport in North America with scheduled passenger flights, until Great Lakes Airlines ended service in 2014.

Facilities and aircraft

Telluride Regional Airport covers 542 acres (219 ha) and has one runway, 9/27, 6,911 by 100 feet (2,106 by 30 m). The runway is on a plateau and still dips slightly in the center, although the dip was more pronounced prior to a renovation in 2009. It can be a challenging but beautiful approach for pilots. During winter months, about 20% of the scheduled commuter airline flights end up diverting to other airports because of abruptly adverse landing conditions. This is not unusual since other mountain airports like Sun Valley have similar statistics. When flying to the Telluride Regional Airport, pilots must be aware of unique issues impacting the airfield including high terrain exceeding 14,000 feet (4,300 m), as well as the airport's location on a plateau with a thousand-foot (300 m) drop to the San Miguel River below.

In the year ending April 30, 2007 the airport had 26,709 aircraft operations, average 73 per day: 53% air taxi, 35% general aviation and 12% scheduled commercial. 42 aircraft were then based at this airport: 60% single-engine, 21% multi-engine, 7% jet, 2% helicopter and 10% glider.

Historical Airline Service

In the 1990s the airport had winter nonstop passenger flights to Denver and Phoenix. Mesa Airlines Embraer EMB-120s and Beech 1900s flew nonstop to Denver as United Express and to Phoenix as US Airways Express. Later services were flown with DHC-8-200 aircraft as the EMB-120s were retired. StatesWest Airlines Beechcraft 1900Cs flew nonstop to Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ continuing to Los Angeles. Great Lakes Airlines flew Beechcraft 1900Ds on nonstop flights to Denver, however they discontinued service to Telluride on September 16, 2014. The airport has never had scheduled airline jets, though business jets do land at Telluride.

Renovation

Between April 7 and November 4 of 2009 the Telluride runway was closed for a $24 million runway renovation. The west end of the runway was lowered 30 feet, and the east end 14 ft. The material removed was placed in the center, removing the notorious dip in the middle of the runway. In addition, 41 feet of length was added to the runway and retaining walls were built on the side. In 2010, crews widened the airfield's safety areas from 150 feet to 250 feet, installed an Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS) and finished ancillary aspects of the projects. Work on the EMAS was scheduled at night to prevent disrupting operations. These are designed in part to allow larger aircraft to utilize the airport.

Media appearances

Telluride Regional Airport is the destination in the "Telluride Landing" mission supplied with Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

External links

• FAA TEX
• Airport - Live Local Map
• FAA Terminal Procedures for TEX, effective May 16, 2024
• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for TEX
  • AirNav airport information for KTEX
  • ASN accident history for TEX
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures