Montrose Regional Airport

Last updated

Montrose Regional Airport
Montrose Regional Airport logo.jpg
Montrose Regional Airport.JPG
The entrance sign with the terminal building in the background
Summary
Airport typePublic
Operator Montrose County
Location Montrose, Colorado
Elevation  AMSL 5,759 ft / 1,755 m
Coordinates 38°30′35.26″N107°53′39.27″W / 38.5097944°N 107.8942417°W / 38.5097944; -107.8942417
Website www.flymontrose.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Maps
KMTJ Airport Diagram.svg
FAA airport diagram
Montrose Regional Airport
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
ftm
17/3510,0003,048Asphalt
13/317,5102,289Asphalt

Montrose Regional Airport( IATA : MTJ, ICAO : KMTJ, FAA LID : MTJ) is a non-towered public airport on the northwest side of Montrose, in zip code 81401 in southwestern Colorado. Its two runways are at elevation 5,759 feet (1,755 m). MTJ covers 966 acres (391 ha) of land. [1]

Contents

Monarch Airlines started flying to Montrose in the 1940s. Successor Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) flew to the present airport since the 1950s; the first jets were Frontier Boeing 737-200s in 1982 (runway 12/30 was then 8500 ft). Earlier, Frontier flew Convair 580s between Montrose and Denver.

An enhanced and expanded Montrose Regional Airport was dedicated on June 25, 1988, with Chuck Yeager cutting the ribbon. The airport terminal was designed by local architect Patrik Davis "to greet visitors with small-town hospitality. A two-sided fireplace is the centerpiece of the passenger seating area, which has a tile floor patterned with the Ute pictogram for travel and a high, skylighted ceiling of knotty pine. The walls are earthy, ground-face cinderblock, and natural-finished glue-laminated beams extend over wide walkways. The gable roof has skylights and dormers decorated with the Hopi good luck symbol." [2]

Its runway 17/35 (10,000 feet in length) was built during the 1990s.

The airport is most busy during its winter season, serving many skiers headed to Telluride Ski Resort, an hour and a half away by road; [3] it is also busy serving summer tourism in the area. Outside the winter and summer seasons, the only major airline flights are United Express and Southwest Airlines flights to Denver and American Eagle flights to Dallas/Fort Worth. Direct flights to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Atlanta are offered in peak seasons, with the most flights on Saturdays.

Montrose Regional is the nearest airport with regularly scheduled mainline passenger jets to ski areas around Telluride. Some direct service to Telluride's small airport is offered by Denver Air Connection, [4] with Montrose serving as the alternative, backup destination when weather would close the high-elevation Telluride airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
American Airlines Seasonal: Dallas/Fort Worth
American Eagle Seasonal: Dallas/Fort Worth
Breeze Airways Seasonal: Orange County [5] [6]
Delta Air Lines Seasonal: Atlanta
Southwest Airlines Denver
Seasonal: Dallas–Love [7] , Nashville [8]
United Airlines Denver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental (begins December 20, 2025), [9] Newark
United Express Denver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Los Angeles, San Francisco
Destinations map
Destinations from Montrose Regional Airport
Red = Year-round destination
Green = Seasonal destination
Blue = Future destination

Statistics

Passengers

Annual passenger traffic at MTJ airport. See Wikidata query.

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from MTJ
(February 2024 – January 2025)
[10]
RankCityPassengersAirlines
1 Denver, Colorado 139,700United, Southwest
2 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 64,280American
3 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 14,310United
4 Atlanta, Georgia 11,340Delta
5 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 11,290United
6 Dallas-Love Field, Texas 9,290Southwest
7 Newark, New Jersey 6,850United
8 San Francisco, California 1,980United
9 Los Angeles, California 1,690United
10 Orange County, California 1,310Breeze

Airline market share

Airline market share (February 2024 – January 2025) [11]
RankCarrierPassengersMarket

Share

1 United 170,00032.63%
2 Southwest 124,00023.76%
3 American 114,00021.89%
4 SkyWest 73,18014.01%
5 Delta 22,9104.39%
Others17,4003.33%

2010-2011 terminal project

Montrose Regional Airport remodeled and expanded the passenger terminal, adding 10,935 square feet (1,015.9 m2) by lengthening the terminal 80 feet (24 m) to the south. The expansion added space for passenger check-in, larger departure lounge, and space at the security checkpoint.

Based aircraft and operations

In the year ending December 31, 2022, the airport had 23,414 aircraft operations, average 64 per day: 26% air carrier, 1% air taxi, 72% general aviation and 1% military. At the time, there were 93 aircraft based at MTJ, 70 single-engine, 13 multi-engine, 3 jets, 3 helicopters, 3 gliders and 1 ultra-light. [1]

Major accidents near MTJ

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 FAA Airport Form 5010 for MTJ PDF , effective May 15, 2025.
  2. Thomas J. Noel (16 July 2018). "Montrose Regional Airport". SAH Archipedia . Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  3. Google maps reports 1 hour 31 minutes drive in good weather conditions.
  4. "First-ever commercial jet service coming to Telluride". KUSA.com. April 9, 2019. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  5. "Breeze Airways Adds New Routes to Las Vegas, Florida, and More — With 35% Off Flights for a Limited Time". July 10, 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  6. "Breeze Airways Destinations". Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
  7. "2023 - 2024 Winter Flight Schedule" . Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  8. https://flynashville.com/news/nashville-international-airport-celebrates-expanded-southwest-service-with-new-connections-across-the-u-s-and-latin-america.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. "United 2H25 A319/737-700 North America Network Additions". June 17, 2025. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  10. "RITA | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. January 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  11. "OST_R | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics . United States Department of Transportation . Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  12. Accident descriptionfor N743R at the Aviation Safety Network
  13. Accident descriptionfor N873G at the Aviation Safety Network
  14. Ranter, Harro. "Accident Murphy Moose N250MK, Monday 23 June 2025". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation . Retrieved 2025-07-14.