North America · United States

Handling at Aspen (KASE)

We handle overflight permits, slots, flight plans, fuel, customs and the turnaround at Aspen Pitkin County. One coordinator owns the stop at Aspen, from the first filing to wheels up.

AERODROME

--:-- local

ICAO: KASE
IATA: ASE
Elevation: 7,820 ft
Position: 39.223, -106.869

RUNWAYS

15/332,440 m / 8,006 ftAsphalt

Reference only, not for flight planning. Lengths are full declared runway length rather than declared distances, and this page is not amended on the AIRAC cycle. Check the current AIP and NOTAMs, or ask the desk and we will check them for you.

The field

What KASE is actually like

Aspen is a high-altitude mountain airport with a single runway in a valley, and it is one of the most operationally restrictive business aviation destinations in the United States. Aircraft eligibility, weather, daylight and parking all constrain it independently of each other.

Operating brief

What we handle before you file

Permits

Domestic flights need no permit, but the airport enforces an aircraft wingspan limit that excludes many larger types outright. Crew qualification and special approach procedures apply, and neither is negotiable.

Slots and parking

Parking is severely limited and reservation programmes operate in the peak season. Terrain-driven approach and departure procedures mean weather closes the field more often than demand does.

Customs and border

Limited. International arrivals into Colorado generally clear at Denver and reposition, which is worth building into the schedule rather than discovering on the day.

When it gets tight

Christmas and New Year is the single hardest week, followed by the President's Day period and the spring ski weeks. The X Games in January add a further compression.

On the ground

Off the aircraft and into the car

Four miles to town, the shortest transfer on this entire list, and in a good week the passengers are at the hotel before the crew has finished the paperwork. Everything difficult about Aspen happens in the air, not on the ground.

Alternates

Where we go when KASE will not take the trip

Every one of these is a field we would put to you with the reason attached, not a list of nearby runways.

KEGE
Eagle County
Serves Vail and Beaver Creek, takes larger aircraft than Aspen, and is the usual answer when Aspen says no.
KRIL
Garfield County, Rifle
Lower, longer and far less weather-limited, an hour from Aspen by road.
KGJT
Grand Junction
Real capability and reliable weather, at the cost of a two-hour drive.

What we handle here