Montrose - Daily Press

MONTROSE — Montrose Regional Airport Aviation Director Lloyd Arnold said Friday a planned terminal expansion was vital to the airport.

As he explained what the estimated $4.4 million expansion would entail, passengers from arriving flights clogged the lobby and a long line of departing passengers waited to go through security lines for a flight already being called.

“We currently have enough enplanements (to justify) 60,000 square feet. We have 28,000 square feet,” Arnold said.

Matt Larsen, far left, a senior architect with Jacobs Engineering Group, discusses terminal expansion plans to Montrose County Commissioner David White, middle, and Montrose Regional Airport Aviation Director Lloyd Arnold during an airport hosted informational open house Friday afternoon. The open house continues today, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Joel Blocker / Daily Press) Advertisement

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Comments

funny wrote on Aug 20, 2009 1:49 PM:

" Those TSA guys that you think do nothing all night are the guys who load and unload the military's c-130's that are in and out of that airport so frequently late at night. "




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new flyer wrote on Aug 18, 2009 10:00 PM:

" awww Montrose has 35 TSA people. They certainly won't need to hire more people no matter how large the expansion is. They should put in a bedroom suite for the airport firefighters who recieve 32 hours of OT each week to sleep through the night without any requirement for them to be there. "




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Open your Eyes wrote on Aug 18, 2009 8:11 PM:

" The Montrose Airport terminal has been too small to handle the traffic for years. The Telluride Airport's runway closure this summer has no impact on how traffic has grown to Montrose prior to this. Go to one of the open houses and get the facts insteading of just jawing unsubstantiated opinions. One only needs to go into the terminal in the middle of the day in the winter to see expansion is needed. The super peak times are Saturdays. "




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Great News wrote on Aug 18, 2009 5:48 PM:

" Not only do we need to expand the terminal, we need to expand the airport with two viable fueling stations. With all this increased traffic, it is obvious Montrose can handle not one but two FBO's. "




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old flyer wrote on Aug 18, 2009 5:29 PM:

" Is the existing airport even paid for yet? It took 20 years to fill up the new terminal. And there is still 1 space that is only occupied 6 months of the year. But we do need a bigger space for all those TSA people to hang out. "




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Some other info wrote on Aug 18, 2009 7:14 AM:

" Telluride closed the airport to replace the runway with a new one, the COMMERCIAL traffic went to Cortez,not Montrose. The private aircraft, for the most part came here. When Telluride reopens in November the private aircraft will probably return to Telluride, as will the commercial service that moved to Cortez. As for diversions, minimum visibility distances as set by the FAA are still in place, so bad weather in TEX still means diverted traffic to surrounding airports, new runway or not. "




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Pilot wrote on Aug 17, 2009 11:01 AM:

" You are exactly right, Mr. Bill. In fact, once the Telluride runway improvement is finished, there will be fewer deviations to Montrose due to bad weather at Telluride. It is quite possible that passenger traffic at Montrose will shrink even below what it was before Telluride's temporary closure. "




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Some Info wrote on Aug 17, 2009 10:41 AM:

" To Wonderful...I recommend attending one of the open houses today to get some facts. Because there are federal and state funds already captured for the Terminal Expansion project the local funding is a small match of the $4.4 Millioni. Typically, local monies needed to match state and federal funds equals about 2.5% "




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Lets be factual wrote on Aug 17, 2009 10:39 AM:

" One last fact:
The Montrose Regional Airport is responsible for over $330 Million yearly in total economic activity to the region. *Per a study conducted by CDOT While Montrose itself doesn't see the full $330 million in regional benefit it sees alot of it including almost 1600 jobs that were driven by the airport. "




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Lets be factual wrote on Aug 17, 2009 10:37 AM:

" more To Bill Rights...money is driven to Montrose via the airport and outside Montrose via the airport but it's important to realize that alot of the money driven outside of Montrose makes its way back to Montrose supporting Montrose business and the local government through sales and other taxes. The community should support infrastructure like the Montrose Airport that is a key driver to the communities economy. "




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Lets be factual wrote on Aug 17, 2009 10:34 AM:

" More to Bill Rights...do you know how much of the Montrose's city budget comes from visitors outside the area...whether they go to Telluride or other places? 50%. Montrose is a service community for many of the surrounding towns including Telluride, Ridgway, Ouray, Delta etc...and any visitiation tht goes to these communities helps with employment not only in Montrose but in these communities and employment that spends money in Montrose on groceries, cars, car repair etc... "




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Lets Be Factual wrote on Aug 17, 2009 10:32 AM:

" to Bill of Rights...your really are being short sighted and non-factual by claiming all commercial passengers are going to Telluride. The Facts from survey's show that in the summer about 50% of the visiting guests are actually going to and staying in the Montrose/Black Canyon area. Also many locals use the flights. There is data and surveys that have been conducted for years that show this. What facts do you have to support your statement? "




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Wonderful wrote on Aug 16, 2009 4:48 PM:

" This is great! Since there are so many people going through the airport, just a small donation from each of them will cover the cost of expansion. Just $10 each will pay for the expansion in only 6 years. We won't need to ask the taxpayers for anything. "




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Bill Rights wrote on Aug 16, 2009 12:02 PM:

" Did he take into account that the Telluride Airport has been closed for the summer for a runway reconstruction? All flights which normally would go to Telluride have been diverted to nearby airports mainly Montrose.

Isn't Telluride a major source of the commercial airline passengers into Montrose? Why else would Telluride Ski and Golf fund Montrose's airport anyway?

When the Telluride Airport reopens this fall with the runway improvements, it will greatly reduce Montrose's air traffic. This is a stupid waste of money for Montrose's Airport. "




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YEP wrote on Aug 15, 2009 5:52 PM:

" C 130'S NEED STORAGE SPACE "




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