Colorado Springs Airport

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City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport
Official Colorado Springs Airport Logo 2015.png
IATA: COSICAO: KCOSFAA LID: COS
WMO: 72466
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator City of Colorado Springs
Serves Colorado Springs, Colorado
Elevation AMSL 6,187 ft / 1,886 m
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Website Colorado Springs Airport
Maps
FAA airport diagram
FAA airport diagram
COS is located in Colorado
COS
COS
Location of airport in Colorado
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17L/35R 13,501 4,115 Concrete
17R/35L 11,022 3,360 Asphalt
12/30 8,269 2,520 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Aircraft operations 138,326
Based aircraft 292
Sources: airport web site[1] and FAA[2]

City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport[2] (IATA: COSICAO: KCOSFAA LID: COS) (also known as Colorado Springs Airport[1]) is a city-owned public civil-military airport 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Colorado Springs, in El Paso County, Colorado.[2] It is the second busiest airport in the state. The airport is co-located with Peterson Air Force Base which is on the north side of runway 12/30.

History

Colorado Springs Airport
Peterson Air and Space Museum.jpg
Former terminal, now Peterson Air & Space Museum
Nearest city Colorado Springs, Colorado
Area 8.3 acres (3.4 ha)
Built 1942
Architectural style Art Deco, Moderne
NRHP Reference # 90001296[3]
Added to NRHP November 15, 1996
Busy morning ramp
View of Pikes Peak from airport
Inside the Mortgage Solutions Financial Premier Lounge.

In 1927 the airport opened on 640 acres (260 ha) 7 miles (11 km) east of the city, with two gravel runways. In the late 1930s the first scheduled airline flight went from El Paso, Texas, through Pueblo, Colorado Springs, to Denver and back. The first municipal terminal was built in 1942 in an art deco style. Soon after the terminal was built the field was taken over by the military in the months preceding World War II. After the war, the city regained control.

Colorado Springs Airport Terminal Building

In 1966 a new terminal was built on the west side of the runways, just east of Powers Boulevard. This terminal expanded by the 1980s, with a six gate addition. By 1991 the airport had three 150-foot (46 m) wide runways, one 13,501 feet (4,115 m) long, making it the longest runway in Colorado until 16R/34L, a 16,000-foot (4,900 m) runway, opened at Denver International Airport in September 2003. In 1991 the city approved a new terminal, two miles east of the former terminal, in the south-center part of the airport. The 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) terminal opened on October 22, 1994 with 12 gates; it was designed by the Van Sant Group and cost $140 million.[4] In the 1990s a second, 5-gate concourse was added on the east side of the main terminal.

Operations

Through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the airport tried to expand service. The largest number of passengers was nearly 5 million in 1996 when now-defunct Western Pacific Airlines had a hub at COS (they moved it to Denver International Airport in late 1996). Their timetable for 15 June shows 33 daily departures to 20 airports between the west coast and Newark and Washington Dulles. (All their flights left from or landed at COS.)

Colorado Springs now has non-stop flights to 11 U.S. cities. Most are hubs, but Colorado Springs has had sporadic flights to non-hub cities.

Facilities and aircraft

The airport covers 7,200 acres (2,900 ha) and has three paved runways: 17L/35R, 13,501 x 150 ft (4,115 x 46 m) long, 17R/35L, 11,022 x 150 ft (3,360 x 46 m) and 12/30, 8,269 x 150 ft (2,520 x 46 m).[2]

Reached via Milton Proby Parkway, the terminal consists of two concourses. However, only one, the larger concourse housing gates 1–12, has ever been put to commercial use; the second concourse (called the Western Pacific Airlines concourse) contains gates 14–18 (there is no gate 13.), and is now mainly used for meetings. Access between the concourses requires leaving the secure area, walking through the main terminal and down a long hallway.

Since September 2011 the airport terminal has been under renovation, that includes reconstruction of the TSA checkpoint to support full body scanners, expansion of office space behind the ticket counters, and new facilities for automated baggage screening.

Repairs to runway 17L/35R, first scheduled for 2011 but delayed by the FAA shutdown, will begin in spring 2012.

In the year ending September 30, 2013 the airport had 138,326 aircraft operations, an average of 378 per day: 58% general aviation, 18% air taxi, 14% scheduled commercial and 11% military. 292 aircraft were then based at the airport: 50% single-engine, 22% multi-engine, 12% jet, 1% helicopter and 16% military.[2]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Alaska Airlines
operated by SkyWest Airlines
Seattle/Tacoma
Allegiant Air Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa
American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth
American Eagle Dallas/Fort Worth
Delta Air Lines Atlanta
Delta Connection Salt Lake City
Frontier Airlines Las Vegas (begins April 14, 2016)[5]
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Houston–Intercontinental, Los Angeles

Top destinations

Top ten busiest domestic routes from COS
(Jul 2014 - Jun 2015)[6]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Dallas, TX 168,840 American Airlines
2 Denver, CO 133,710 United Airlines
3 Chicago, IL 58,350 United Airlines
4 Houston, TX 55,380 United Airlines
5 Atlanta, GA 50,010 Delta Air Lines
6 Los Angeles, CA 36,390 United Airlines
7 Salt Lake City, UT 30,040 Delta Air Lines
8 Seattle/Tacoma 21,090 Alaska Airlines
9 Las Vegas, NV 20,620 Allegiant Air
10 Phoenix, AZ 12,690 Allegiant Air

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Colorado Springs Airport, official web site
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 FAA Airport Master Record for COS (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2014-03-20
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Colorado Springs Airport – Colorado Springs Airport History
  5. http://news.sys-con.com/node/3630870
  6. | BTS | Transtats. Transtats.bts.gov. Retrieved in September 2015.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links