Modernization Projects

• Work with non-airline pilots and insurance providers to encourage and provide training and safety resources related to the unique characteristics and challenges of flying into ASE
• Work with FAA and Airlines on implementing NEXTGEN program, which includes safe clearances, enhanced efficiency, and precision approaches
• Work with the FAA to enhance safety by increasing the separation between aircraft in the air and on the ground (This may reduce flow rate during peak periods)

• Strive towards carbon neutral/free and tie decisions to the Climate Action Plan
  • Implement short and long-term energy goals for airfield, landside and facilities, pursue and optimize renewable energy and storage both onsite and offsite, including ground and roof solar, geothermal, etc. while honoring view planes and open spaces
  • Utilize the most energy efficient technologies throughout the landside, terminal, and airside, such as LED lighting
  • Include carbon offsets as a strategy to increase the overall sustainability
• Fuel and Emissions
  • Establish the most accurate emissions baseline possible as a starting point by using industry best practices and experts in the field. Implement strategies to reduce emissions by at least 30% as soon as possible, but no later than 2030
  • Employ both modeling and local monitoring to track GHG and criteria pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates
  • Reduce overall use of aviation leaded fuel
  • Incorporate biofuels that genuinely reduce the overall carbon footprint
  • Pursue other fuel options as they become available
  • Create financial incentives through things like landing fees and fuel prices by allocating airport costs from excessive GHG emissions to the aircraft operations that create those costs and, thus, rewarding aircraft operators that meet the airport emission goals
  • Emphasize public transportation and commercial flights as first choice solutions
• Noise
  • Maintain and strictly enforce the curfew
  • Electrify the airfield for both GA and commercial operations
  • Use berms and sound walls to mitigate noise impacts. Use landscaping to enhance the visual appearance of berms and walls
  • Incentivize quieter planes
  • Other sustainability goals should be pursued to ensure water conservation, elimination of single use items, and promotion of recycling are happening throughout the airport

• Increase utilization of RFTA
• Provide internal and external wayfinding to promote transportation modes into town
• Infrastructure encourages electric ground transportation
• Encourage multi-passenger and ride-sharing opportunities in hotel shuttles, taxis and TNCs / ride hailing (Uber/Lyft), reducing reliance on single-occupancy vehicle trips to and from the airport
• Develop airport-specific circulator(s) with luggage capacity connecting to Rubey Park and Brush
• Creek Park and Ride
• Improve baggage transport options for all traveling public to and from the terminal
• Reserve space for future multimodal opportunities which may be included in future planning processes, in concert with the Multi-Modal Upper Valley Transportation Plan

• Work with the FAA and Airlines to institute a NEXTGEN and/or a Reservation System for commercial and GA operations during peak periods to protect airline schedules –as part of this, evaluate the past reservation system and reasons for its elimination
• Consider a Peak Period GA Pricing Program (if reservation system isn’t sufficient)
• Seek further actions that other airports may have implemented 5
• East side taxiway and ramp design and moving GA to the north allows airliners to queue up more quickly for take offs

• Reconfigure GA ramp space to move large GA and Air Taxi to the north end of the airport away from noise-sensitive residential areas
• Provide electrical and tempered air hook-ups at each parking space
• Implement International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) spacing standards
• Avoid crowded “aircraft carrier parking”
• County requires aircraft to plug in and minimize auxiliary power unit (APU) use. If County can’t require plugin, County should subsidize to incentivize plug in use
• Maintain current number of aircraft parking spots to avoid increases in drop and go’s County should add non-airline parking spaces incrementally and measure impacts before adding additional space to reduce drop-and-go’s
• Analyze if the addition of hangars would reduce drop-and-go’s
• Phased incremental approach to construction buildout with space reservations as shown as part of Airport Layout Plan (ALP)
• Reserve space in the ALP for the current number of general aviation aircraft parking spots

• The new FBO terminal should be designed striving towards carbon neutral/free emissions
• Include the voluntary noise abatement into any design RFP
• Require FBO to convey community character, values and culture in the same way as the commercial terminal when a new GA terminal is constructed

• Meet best practices for travelers and employees, including sterile spaces, pet areas, re-composure areas, overflow area for luggage needs, and operational efficiency
• Create spaces that are peaceful with comfortable, appealing dwell time
• Design terminal around arts and culture that reflect our community
• Locally sourced programming, food, engagement, education from local institutions
• Welcome booth and information desk should be visible and accessible
• Accommodate all levels of mobility
• Build terminal spaces that can handle peak capacity but not the feeling of built for peak capacity
• Integrate helpful technology but don’t let it dominate the visitor experience
• Expand curbside check-in and provide space for automated kiosks
• Sponsor exhibits, local advertisements, (pre)historical exhibits to reflect a cultural and recreational experience
• Sell character
• Promotion of health and environmental ethics – best practice/values including recycling

• Implement traveler satisfaction survey
• County will monitor gate utilization during regular and irregular operations and the impacts on staff
• Design of new terminal shall improve traveler and staff experience and provide sufficient surge capacity for irregular operations
• Emphasize ease of information, efficiency, comfort and service to our airline traveling public
• Have architecture that is both memorable and outstanding that reflects our unique history and vision of the future
• Emphasize our place in the natural world and foster a sense of respect, appreciation and responsibility to the environment
• Continue to promote carbon offset programs
• Develop coordinated strategy for greeting and delivering visitors to Aspen whose flights are diverted and end up arriving and departing by ground transportation after the Airport is closed.

• Jetways may be used, if supported by the future terminal design chosen, with defined parameters as defined by the Board of County Commissioners such as customer comfort, safety, and open-air experience. This will allow for electrical hookups, tempered air, and allow greater accessibility. The County has the authority without federal funds.
• Maintain the visibility of the natural environment.

• Begin the design concept of the terminal and ramp with six (6) functioning gates/jetways with sufficient space to add the additional gates/jetways if necessary for safe and efficient airport operations. Consideration should be given as to impacts on staff as well as passengers when determining number of gates
• A design with six functioning gates and space for two additions will allow for constructing a terminal with the core functions accommodating up to an eight-gate volume.
• Addition of gates/jetways over and above six, either during design or post construction are to be determined upon an Airport Advisory Board recommendation approved by Board of County Commissioners resolution or ordinance after public hearings and input.
• Comfortable gate seating to accommodate every person on the aircraft under normal regular operations.
• Design space to be comfortable with the intent to find a balance between limiting and overbuilt.

• Provide 6 to 8 gates for smaller regional aircraft but fewer for larger aircraft. Gates “flex” down for larger aircraft, thus keeping total enplanement/deplanement at approximately the same level, regardless of aircraft size.
• Create a special arrival-only process to facilitate rapid deplaning of flights delayed by weather events and arriving together.
• The Board of County Commissioners upon advice from the Airport Advisory Board, will define parameters and policy for the use of how the gates will be expanded or contracted when the gates become more defined during design.

• Commission an updated fleet mix study after allowing airline industry to recalibrate after the disruptions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic
• Negotiate with airlines and FAA to achieve agreements with the county that ASE will be served by aircraft with the following characteristics:
  • greenhouse gas and other emissions that are significantly lower than the CRJ-700
  • quieter than the CRJ-700 o weight limit of 140,000 MTOW
  • seat limitation of no more than 100-120 passengers
• Retain and strengthen the voluntary noise restriction
• Separate the runway from the taxiway by 400′ between centerlines
• Widen the runway to 150′
• Charge the Airport Advisory Board to evaluate the success of the negotiations and/or the outcome of update fleet mix studies and make an alternate recommendation if necessary.

• Move deicing pads to the east and relocate of surface vehicle parking to the north.
• GA parking on the west side will be required to maintain the same number of GA/Air Taxi parking spaces.
• Future ramp expansion space to be reserved based on “drop and go” analysis.
• With shifting the runway, a more methodical approach to begin separation for safety is by phasing the west side GA development. By phasing, the collection of data over time will help determine:
  • Whether the need for added ramp space for GA decreases if air taxi operations increase
  • If lack of parking space for GA increases or decreases drop and go activity.

• Minimize community disruptions while considering the phasing of various terminal, airfield and landside improvements.
• Time projects based on technical requirements and ability to fund in consideration of new aircraft.
• Terminal is a priority when looking at phasing of overall construction projects.

In 2008, ASE established the voluntary Fly Quiet Program with the purpose of supporting our local community in working to minimize noise associated with the airport. The Fly Quiet Program encouraged operators to mitigate noise from aircraft operations and to comply with voluntary noise abatement procedures. Fly Quiet Reports dating back to 2015 are available on the ASE website reports page.

Initially, the Fly Quiet Program analyzed two categories of noise: Fleet Noise Quality and Minimizing High Noise Events. In 2020 a third category was added: Minimize Runway 33 Arrivals; and in 2021 an additional category was integrated to the program: Quiet Fleet. In total, the following four categories have been analyzed as part of the Airport’s historical Fly Quiet Program:

1. Fleet Noise Quality
2. Minimize High Noise Events
3. Minimize Runway 33 Arrivals
4. Quiet Fleet, Bonus Category

Airport operators are divided into two groups for evaluation: 1) operators with over 60 operations per year, and 2) operators with 12 to 60 operations per year. Within these two groups, operators are categorized based on the type of operators (either Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations [14 CFR] Part 135, which incorporates fractional and charter operations, OR single owners or small fleets [single aircraft]). For each operator, scores are calculated, and reports are generated to evaluate compliance with the voluntary noise program categories. The program was designed to be modified and expanded as additional radar and noise monitoring capabilities became available. For example, year-round noise monitoring at the Woody Creek Remote Noise Monitoring Site was added in 2020 to supplement the seasonal noise monitoring that had been conducted there previously. The Airport Advisory Board is currently reviewing the noise program to modernize metrics and measures that will better allow the Airport to make progress toward the Community Visioning goal.

Modeling of noise is conducted using the FAA approved Aviation Environmental Design Tool
(AEDT), which is updated frequently to account for current aircraft, operational considerations,
and modeling enhancements. AEDT is a robust program containing information required to
present the aircraft noise environment. While the majority of airports do not have noise
monitoring systems, ASE uses eight year-round noise monitors that continuously measure and
record noise levels around the airport. Noise monitoring can help to validate the modeling
through using actual data compared to the modeled information to ensure that the modeled
noise is consistent with the actual measurements on the ground.

Various metrics are used to measure and assess aircraft noise. The four most common metrics
are described below.
1. Maximum Level (Lmax): The maximum, or highest dB, recorded from a specific
event.
2. Sound Exposure Level (SEL): An overall assessment of the sound produced from an
event.
3. Equivalent Sound Level (LEQ): The average noise over a specified time period that
includes multiple sound events.
4. Day/ Night Average Sound Level (DNL): The average noise over a 24-hour period.
The DNL adds 10 dB to noise produced from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. DNL is the FAA
preferred metric to define land use compatibility associated with aircraft noise.
As the new Fly With Integrity Program is developed, additional noise monitoring metrics can be
added specific to ASE in order to better assess the impacts of noise on the surrounding
community. In addition, noise metric thresholds will be identified that should be modified as the
Program matures.