{"id":28493,"date":"2024-03-28T00:35:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T06:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-airport-doing-what-it-can-to-keep-up-with-demand\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:30:47","slug":"durango-airport-doing-what-it-can-to-keep-up-with-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-airport-doing-what-it-can-to-keep-up-with-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango airport doing what it can to keep up with demand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Durango-La Plata County Airport is just weeks away from completing its first phase of a $7 million terminal expansion project, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned to be held next month at the airport. Aviation Director Tony Vicari fielded questions from Durango and La Plata County residents at an Engage Durango public forum held at the Durango Public Library on Tuesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It is no secret the Durango-La Plata County Airport is feeling growing pains.<\/p>\n

The airport consistently sets records for passenger traffic, including the first two months of this year when passenger traffic was up 16% compared with the same time period in 2023. And the growth has been consistent year over year for several years.<\/p>\n

The increased traffic has put a strain on airport facilities, including parking lots, ticketing counters, the security checkpoint, food and beverage amenities, bathrooms, and terminal seating areas.<\/p>\n

The airport is doing what it can to keep up with demand. It is weeks away from completing the first phase of a terminal expansion, and other expansion plans are in the works.<\/p>\n

\"Vicari\"
Vicari<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DRO Aviation Director Tony Vicari fielded questions this week from residents wondering about future expansion plans, including whether the airport anticipates asking voters to help fund expansions, what is being done to improve the parking situation at the airport and whether the airport is ready for jet bridges.<\/p>\n

He was the guest speaker Tuesday at an Engage Durango forum.<\/p>\n

One resident pressed Vicari on whether the airport will seek a mill levy increase to fund future development at the airport.<\/p>\n

Vicari said the airport has no intention of using city or county taxpayer dollars to pay for its terminal expansion.<\/p>\n

While he can\u2019t promise project costs won\u2019t increase, he said any additional costs will be paid for using airport revenues or grant funding \u2013 the same sources being used to fund ongoing expansions.<\/p>\n

DRO sought a mill levy increase in 2016 to fund a major terminal expansion, but voters shot it down 62% to 38%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community was not in favor of that and the airport heard that loud and clear,\u201d Vicari said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He said residents didn\u2019t reject development of the airport outright, but they didn\u2019t want to put airport development ahead of other infrastructure projects funded by tax dollars in Durango and La Plata County.<\/p>\n

The failed ballot initiative led to the airport reconsidering its approach to building out its terminal. Now, it has adopted a development strategy of building in \u201cbite-sized chunks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShort answer is we have no intention of asking for city or county tax requests through any kind of ballot measure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Parking plans at DRO<\/div>\n

Durango business owner Jasper Welch asked about parking challenges at the airport.<\/p>\n

Vicari said DRO is \u201caggressively moving on parking.\u201d It recently awarded a construction project to pave the airport\u2019s overflow parking lot south of the airport terminal and has additional parking expansion plans.<\/p>\n

The airport has about 1,000 parking spaces, with 600 of the spaces paved and 400 spaces unpaved, he said.<\/p>\n

Construction on the recently awarded parking project will add about 280 parking spaces to the airport\u2019s inventory. He said that project will begin in May and is expected to take two months to complete.<\/p>\n

He said the airport has also earmarked funding to expand its main parking lot, which is scheduled to take place in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween those two projects we anticipate being able to add in the range of 300-ish spaces overall to the airport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Answering another resident\u2019s question, Vicari said the airport bought about 12 acres of land northeast of the airport terminal along County Road 309 for future parking needs.<\/p>\n

He said the purchase was \u201ca strategic pressure relief valve\u201d for the airport complex. The 12 acres will be considered for long-term planning depending on how demand affects the airport\u2019s growth over the next 15 to 20 years.<\/p>\n

The airport currently leases commercial buildings on the property to businesses, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Unlike
Unlike most airports, DRO conducts passenger boarding on the ground instead of with jet bridges. DRO Aviation Director Tony Vicari said residents prefer ground boarding because it is a handy way of introducing travelers to Durango by deplaning them among mountainous scenery. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Should DRO use jet bridges?<\/div>\n

Welch also asked Vicari about future plans to include jet bridges \u2013 the long tunnels linking gates to planes seen at most airports around the country.<\/p>\n

Vicari said the airport has no plans to incorporate jet bridges into its terminal development project.<\/p>\n

He cited two reasons to exclude jet bridges at this time, although he said jet bridges could be considered in the future as the airport continues to grow.<\/p>\n

In initial planning phases and early community meetings about expanding the terminal, residents said on-ground boarding represents Durango well because the moment someone steps off the plane they are greeted by fresh air and scenic mountains, Vicari said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard pretty strongly from our design review committee, our initial public open houses, as well as (from) users of the airport that the ground boarding experience was \u2026 representative of our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And there isn\u2019t a strong demand for jet bridges despite how common they are at many airports. He said even large aircraft such as Airbus A319\u2019s and A320\u2019s flown by United Airlines can accommodate on-ground boarding with the use of multiple boarding bridges.<\/p>\n

There is also the issue of cost. Jet bridges are expensive, costing about $1.5 million per bridge, not including maintenance and operations costs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still like the charm of being able to board and plane and deplane on the ramps. It is fairly uncommon nationwide, but not uncommon necessarily in the west where we have more favorable weather conditions on an annualized basis. Lots of sunshine, less ice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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