Telluride Sets Record for Holiday Air Service & Performance

TELLURIDE, Colo., Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- With great early momentum, Telluride has set a likely record for holiday air service, and continues to lead all mountain airports in terms of flight performance, making it ski country's most reliable mountain airport and one of the easiest to get to.

For the two week Christmas/New Year's period, Telluride saw 348 flight operations and more than 31,000 seats come in and out of the Telluride-Montrose Airport (MTJ). This is a 6% increase at MTJ, and a 2% increase over the combined MTJ and Telluride (TEX) airports from last year. The 2013-14 holiday season also set a record, which had beaten the previous top holiday seat count by 13%, with numbers available back to 2000. All told in the last two seasons, Telluride has gained 15% in holiday air service, taking access to new levels for North America's #1 Resort (Conde Nast Reader's Poll).

"Telluride continues to establish itself as one of the most easily accessible and best performing mountain airports in the country," said Colorado Flights Alliance Chief Operating Officer Matt Skinner. "Skiers and riders can get to Telluride direct or with one-stop from all regions of the country, and we look forward to continuing to build on our network."

Looking at available data on the flights organized by Colorado Flights Alliance, holiday passenger traffic is showing a 16% increase over 2013, and an 8% increase over the previous high.

Where some other mountain airports faced performance challenges with the winter storms, all that snow in Telluride was just a bonus for skiers. Over the two week period, only one flight was diverted, and a total of 3 flights were cancelled, one out of the originating hub. This gave MTJ a 98% flight completion rate, consistent with its standard performance leading all mountain airports over the past five years. 

Telluride-Montrose Airport (MTJ) sits at a similar elevation and in similar terrain to Denver, and has a runway about the same length (10,000 feet at MTJ vs 12,000 feet at Denver for their standard runways), and with consistent performance getting traveler's to their destination, makes MTJ the most reliable mountain airport in ski country.

For the balance of the winter, skiers and riders can easily get to the slopes, as Telluride is also at record or near-record levels for air service, with a 10% increase in flights and 17% increase in seats from the first week of February through the first week of April.

Major additions this year include 50% increases in service from Dallas and Newark, and new service from San Francisco (SFO) and Phoenix (PHX), contributing to the record levels.

Skiers and riders can fly daily or multiple times daily from Denver, Dallas, Houston and Chicago, and weekly or multiple times weekly from New York/Newark, Atlanta, Phoenix (PHX and IWA), San Francisco and Los Angeles (two airlines).

With a hub network covering the country on all major carriers, ranking in the top two or three resorts for direct flights from major hubs, plus a low-cost carrier option, and combined with the top performance marks, Telluride is now one of the easiest resorts in the country to get to.

For the full Telluride winter air schedule, please visit www.ColoradoFlights.org/schedule. For a custom booking page to see the best rates from around the country to Telluride/Montrose, please Click Here.

For more information on Telluride, please visit www.VisitTelluride.com or www.TellurideSkiResort.com.

- www.visittelluride.com -

Media Contact:
Telluride Tourism Board
Kiera Skinner
970.369.2112
[email protected]

SOURCE Telluride Tourism Board

Related Links

http://www.VisitTelluride.com