Pitkin County broke ground on the Aspen airport modernization project on July 15, 2026. Crews started moving dirt on Owl Creek Road the week of July 27. After two years of design work and one voter referendum, the project that ends Aspen's 95-foot wingspan rule is now a construction site.
For travelers, three things matter. Your flights are not affected in 2026. The airport shuts down completely for eight months in 2027. And when it reopens, the rule that has limited Aspen to two aircraft types since 1999 gets replaced with a much looser one.
The three dates to write down
- April 4, 2027 at 11:00 p.m. Aspen airport closes. No commercial flights, no private aviation, no terminal access.
- November 19, 2027 at 7:00 p.m. The runway reopens, and service resumes out of the existing terminal.
- TBD 2029. The new terminal opens. Everything between now and April 2027 is preparation work that does not touch flights.
Where the Project Stands in 2026
Crews are shifting a roughly 1,800-foot stretch of Owl Creek Road about 30 feet west, relocating utilities, and extending the Owl Creek culvert. That work runs through October 2026. Owl Creek Road is on alternating single-lane traffic during the phase, with no full closures planned, and the Owl Creek Trail stays open.
None of this affects your flight. The terminal is open, the runway is open, and the airport is operating a normal schedule. If your Aspen flight gets delayed, it won't be from construction. Our post on why Aspen flights get delayed covers what is actually driving those days.
The 2027 Closure Is a Full Stop
This is the part most travelers underestimate. Pitkin County announced the exact closure window in May 2026: April 4, 2027 at 11:00 p.m. through November 19, 2027 at 7:00 p.m.
During that window, no commercial or general aviation operations are permitted at ASE, and there is no access to the terminal. This is not a reduced schedule or a partial closure. The runway is being demolished and rebuilt, so there is nowhere to land.
Two ski-adjacent windows fall inside it. Spring 2027 closing weeks are cut off after April 4, and the entire fall 2027 pre-season is gone, with the airport reopening about a week before Thanksgiving. If you ski Aspen every year, the 2027 fall trip is the one to start thinking about now.
Commercial service resumes in the existing terminal when the runway reopens in November 2027. However, you'll still be walking into the same terminal. That won't be rebuilt and re-opened until 2029.
Why the 95-Foot Rule Exists
We'll just include the short version here. If you want more detail, we cover this in depth in our post on why Aspen only flies E-175s.
Aspen's runway and its parallel taxiway sit about 320 feet apart, center to center. Current FAA standards for the category of aircraft Aspen wants to serve call for 400 feet. In 1999 the FAA agreed to let Aspen keep the narrower spacing as an exception, and the price of that exception was a hard cap: no aircraft with a wingspan of 95 feet or more.
That single number is why every scheduled flight into Aspen is an Embraer E-175 (93 ft 11 in) or a Bombardier CRJ-700 (76 ft 3 in). The cap is about geometry on the ground, not about the mountains.
What Changes: 95 Feet Becomes 118 Feet
The rebuild fixes the geometry. The runway shifts about 80 feet west and widens from 100 feet to 150 feet, which finally delivers the 400-foot separation the FAA requires. The airfield is being built to Airplane Design Group III standards.
The airport states the outcome plainly: after modernization, the wingspan limitation will be 118 feet or less. That is a 23-foot increase, and it moves Aspen from one of the most restricted commercial airports in the country to something much closer to normal.
Here is what fits under each cap.
| Aircraft | Wingspan | Under the new 118 ft cap? |
|---|---|---|
| Bombardier CRJ-700 | 76 ft 3 in | Yes, and it fits today |
| Embraer E-175 | 93 ft 11 in | Yes, and it fits today |
| Embraer E190-E2 / E195-E2 | 110 ft 8 in | Yes. Blocked today |
| Airbus A220-300 | ~115 ft 1 in | Yes. Blocked today |
What This Does Not Automatically Mean
A wider wingspan cap is a permission, not a schedule. The airport has not announced which aircraft types will actually serve Aspen after 2027, and there are good reasons to be careful about predicting it.
- Runway length and elevation still apply. Aspen's runway is about 8,000 feet long at 7,820 feet of elevation. Thin air means longer takeoff rolls and reduced payload. A jet can clear the wingspan rule and still be a poor performance fit.
- The approach does not get easier. The terrain, the steep approach, and the weather limits that drive most Aspen disruptions are unchanged by a wider runway. Our post on Aspen winter weather patterns covers the conditions that will still ground flights in 2028.
- Airlines decide, not the airport. SkyWest operates all of Aspen's commercial service today. Whether any carrier swaps in a larger jet depends on demand, fleet availability, and economics that nobody has published.
The reasonable expectation is more capacity per flight becoming possible over time, not a sudden arrival of mainline narrowbodies in December 2027.
What It Costs and Who Pays
The total program is estimated at $575 million, which the airport notes is subject to change. The funding structure is worth understanding, because "voter-approved" gets misread as "tax-funded."
- The airfield work is eligible for FAA funding covering up to 90% of the total airfield project cost.
- The new terminal is financed by $340 million in airport revenue bonds, approved by Pitkin County voters in November 2024. These are repaid from airport revenue, not from taxes.
- A 30-year lease with Atlantic Aviation is projected to generate an estimated $20 million per year toward that repayment.
How to Plan Around the Closure
If you are booking travel that touches April through November 2027, you are flying into a different airport. Plan on it now rather than discovering it at booking time.
- Eagle (EGE) is the primary alternative for most travelers, about 70 miles away. Expect demand to spike during the closure. Our Aspen vs. Eagle comparison covers the tradeoffs in normal years, and most of them still hold.
- Grand Junction (GJT) is about 130 miles west and already the most common Aspen diversion airport, so airlines and rental agencies are used to routing Aspen traffic through it.
- Denver (DEN) is roughly a four-hour drive but has the most seats and the most rebooking options if something goes wrong.
- Rifle (RIL) is not an option for commercial passengers. It handles private and charter aircraft only.
Our guide to the closest airports to Aspen breaks down drive times and service levels for each. For the 2027 season specifically, book earlier than you normally would. Eight months of Aspen's traffic redistributing to three airports is a straightforward supply problem.
The Timeline Through 2030
| When | What happens | Affects your flight? |
|---|---|---|
| Jul–Oct 2026 | Owl Creek Road shifted west, utilities relocated, culvert extended | No |
| Winter 2026–27 | Normal operations, existing terminal, 95 ft cap still in force | No |
| Apr 4 – Nov 19, 2027 | Full airport closure. Runway demolished, shifted, and rebuilt | Yes. Fly into EGE, GJT, or DEN |
| Nov 2027 | Runway reopens. Service resumes in the existing terminal at the new 118 ft cap | Yes, flights resume! |
| 2029 | New passenger terminal opens | Terminal experience only |
| 2030 | Old terminal demolished | No |
The KASE Weather dashboard will keep scoring conditions against the aircraft actually flying into Aspen, and we will update those limits when the fleet changes. For now that means the E-175 and the CRJ-700, and it will keep meaning that through the 2026–27 winter. Travelers who want a heads up when conditions turn can sign up for KASE Weather Premium.
The Bottom Line
Nothing about your Aspen flight changes before April 2027. Then the airport closes hard for eight months, and ski season is unaffected.
When it reopens in November 2027, the 95-foot wingspan rule becomes a 118-foot rule, which finally makes larger jets legal at Aspen even though no airline has announced one yet. Put April 4 and November 19, 2027 in your calendar now, and book that season early. We will update this post as information is updated.