Rocky Mountain Airports
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Listed here are spotting locations, ATC frequencies, Activity guides, and Google EarthTM directions. Anything you need to know about various airports throughout the Rocky Mountain region will be posted here. Happy Spotting!
Denver International Airport (KDEN)
Denver International Airport is Denver's only commercial airport and the international gateway to the Rocky Mountain Region. Finished in 1995 , DIA is the most efficient and technologically advanced airport in the nation. It boasts six runways - including the longest commercial runway in the world, three concourses, the world famous Jeppesen Terminal, and 54 square miles of area. The airport is Frontier's main hub and United's second largest hub. Every American airline except Spirit serves Denver, as well as several international airlines including Air Canada, Mexicana, Lufthansa, British Airways, and Thomsonfly (providing ski charters). Although traffic from United and Frontier dominates the landscape, the airport still sees a diverse mix of traffic, ranging from Beech 1900's to 777's. It is not uncommon to see the massive An-124 Ruslan parked near the cargo area, as it is often contracted by Lockheed.
Denver Centennial Airport (KAPA)
Centennial airport is the main General Aviation reliever to Denver International Airport. Built in the 1960's, Centennial has always served this role, providing GA reliever service to Stapleton as well as DIA. In this capacity, it has grown to the 2nd largest GA airport in the country, behind only Van Nuys airport in California. There has been a battle in the last ten years to bring commercial service to the airfield, which included Congress and the FAA threatening to block federal funding should the airport not open up to commercial service. They eventually compromised, and now scheduled commercial service is limited to aircraft configured to nine passengers or less. The airport has a plethora of FBO's, including Signature Flight Support, TAC Air, and Denver JetCenter, as well as several flying clubs and charger operations. Noteable activity includes the Key Lime Air maintenance facility (expect to see a few of their metroliners coming in and out during any given day) as well as the Straight Flight freighter conversion program, which is converting Fokker F50 aircraft to freighters by adding a cargo door and plugging the windows, amongst other changes. There are currently 2 F50's undergoing the conversion process at Centennial. Also, Adam Aircraft manufactures their A700 and A500 business aircraft on the field. Noteable rarities include a visit from a BAC-1-11 in the summer of 2005.
Broomfield - Jefferson County Airport (KBJC)
Broomfield is the main GA airport serving the northwestern side of the Denver - Boulder metro area. The airport sees less activity than Centennial, however they do occasionally welcome Boeing Business Jets. The airfield is home to a USAF tanker base which houses the Lockheed P-3 Orion firefighting aircraft. The airport is also home to Denver Air Connection, an airlink run by Key Lime that flies Metroliners between Jeffco and Grand Junction, Colorado. Noteable Rare visitors include an Air Canada Jetz A320 in the U2 "vertigo tour" colorscheme.
Colorado Springs Municipal Airport/Peterson Air Force Base (KCOS)
Colorado Springs Municipal is the only airport in Colorado Springs that is open to the public. Most of the Legacies fly there, but being a smaller market, Colorado Springs does not currently have any real LCC presence. In it's heydey in the mid 90's, Colorado Springs was home to Western Pacific, having many colorful 737 logojets popping in and out all day and filling up gates on both concourses, at the same time several other airlines flew in alot of capacity to compete with Western Pacific, this includes American 757's, Fokker 100s, and MD-80's from Dallas and Chicago, as well as United's DC-10's and 757's from Denver. When Western Pacific moved to Denver, Colorado Springs traffic fell off dramatically, and the airport now sees mostly RJ's and the occaisional MD-80, 737, or A320. On the military side, C-130's frequent the airport and at any given time there are several there, plus the military charters to Iraq that fly from Colorado Springs have included United Airlines 747's and 777's, American Airlines 777's, Northwest 747's, and Omni Air DC-10's, all of which have parked on the FBO ramps rather than the military ramps. Skywest also has a maintenance facility on the field and at any given time Several United Express and Delta Express RJ's can be seen undergoing maintence, and Boeing also uses the airfield as its high altitude test airport, the most recent aircraft boeing has tested in Colorado Springs is their 777-200LR Worldliner. Look for the 787 to be tested in Colorado Springs as well.
Durango - La Plata County Airport (KDRO)
The La Plata County airport sits halfway between the towns of Durango and Ignacio in Southwestern Colorado. Just to the North of the airport are the San Juan mountians, and while they do not inhibit operations at the airport, they do make the airport a very scenic one. The airport is served by America West Express using Dash-8's to Phoenix, as well as United Express Dash-8's and CRJ-200's from Denver. Additionally, a Wednesday and Saturday evening flight links Durango with Dallas's Love Field, provided as a ski charter by Southwest Airlines using their 737. In the summer months, a USAF Tanker Base is home to P-3 Orion tanker aircraft. Noteable rarities include an Ameristar 737-200 aircraft that brought in animals orphaned by Hurricane Katrina to the Humane Society.
Albuquerque International Sunport/Kirtland Air Force Base (KABQ)
The Sunport sits on the Southwestern side of Albuquerque, just far enough away from the Sandia Mountains that border the city on the east to allow for about a 5 mile final to runway 26. Because of these mountains and the winds that can accompany them, the airport runway layout is very unusual. There are 4 runways, runways 3 and 8 being used most often, with 8 seeing most of the traffic. The Sunport does have a spotting area, however it has been moved from its location near runway 8 to its present location on the north side of runway 3. This unfortunately makes the airport all but useless for good spotting until the afternoon hours. The airport sees mostly 737 and A320 size aircraft, however UPS and FedEx both fly in A300, A310, and 767 aircraft. The largest passenger aircraft comes from Delta with 2 daily 757s from Atlanta. Southwest is by far the largest carrier in Albuquerque, however it is served by all the legacies as well as Frontier. On the Southwest side of the field is a storage site for several derelict aircraft, including some Beech 1900s, an Ex-British Airways 747-100 - housed by the FAA testbed site, an Ex-Northwest DC-9-14, an Ex-US Coast Guard Falcon Mystere 20, the nose section of an Ex-Eastern DC-9, and a scrapped UH-1 huey. On the north side of the field near the Air Force Base a row of 4 scrapped KC-135's that are visable, but impossible to access for photography. The field is also home to Eclipse Aviation, who manufactures their Eclipse 500 Very-Lite-Jet on the field.
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All material copyright 2006 Kyle Matson, Eric D Smith, Jason Thacher, and Ryan Richter.
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