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Yampa Valley Regional Airport summer flights increase Saturday

20 contractors show interest in terminal expansion projects

Tom Ross

If you go

What: Yampa Valley Airport Commission meeting

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

Where: Steamboat Springs Airport/Bob Adams Field

Details: The commission convenes to hear reports from Steamboat Springs Airport Manager Mel Baker and Yampa Valley Regional Airport Manager Dave Ruppel. City of Steamboat Springs Public Works Director Philo Shelton was originally on the agenda to talk about private development of new hangars. The developer has withdrawn, but Shelton said he continues to think that new hangars would be an important source of revenue for the Steamboat airport.

Summer flight schedule

To see the summer flight schedule at YVRA, click here.

— Air travelers flying in and out of Yampa Valley Regional Airport will have more options beginning Saturday, when United Express/SkyWest Air­lines adds a third daily round-trip flight between Denver and Hayden.

A spot check of sample trips Tuesday showed ample available seats in June, but a number of flights in July where just two or three seats are available.

“We’re hearing there’s pretty good demand this summer,” Air­­port Manager Dave Ruppel said.



The United Airlines website indicates that flights in and out of the Yampa Valley this summer are on 50-passenger Bombardier CRJ-200 and 70-passenger CRJ-700 jets.

The summer schedule will be in effect through Aug. 30 and then revert to twice daily flights Aug. 31.



Ruppel said airport personnel have been communicating closely with United Express personnel this week as they temporarily suspend ongoing runway sealing and painting work to accommodate arriving and departing aircraft.

“They’ve worked very well with us this week,” Ruppel said.

The airport has been closed to general aviation aircraft during the runway work. Ruppel said broadening the number of aircraft received by the airport this week beyond the United Express flights would have introduced too many variables in the case of delayed flights.

“We really had to cut it down to just commercial,” he said.

The runway work is ahead of schedule thanks to favorable weather, Ruppel said, and the sealing is complete with a first coat of new marking paint that was due to be completed by the end of the day Tuesday.

He expects the project to wrap up within a day or two.

In other airport news, Ruppel said he already has mailed out 20 bid packets to general contractors interested in a two-year terminal expansion project that could be under way by the end of July or early August. The construction ultimately would add a new baggage carousel and an upgraded main-level restaurant to the passenger terminal at YVRA.

Ruppel said he would host a prebid meeting for contractors June 16 with bids due July 1.


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