Airlines are nervous as war-related fuel costs climb, but Eagle County Airport is holding steady
Zoe Goldstein/Vail Daily
With jet fuel prices nearly doubling during the ongoing Iran War and low-cost air carriers such as Spirit Airlines going under, officials at the Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in Gypsum says there’s general nervousness in the airline industry about commercial flights this summer.
“(Deputy Director of Aviation) Josh (Miller) and I were just at an air service conference where all the airlines show up, and the airports arrive as well, and we just network the whole time,” EGE Director of Aviation David Reid said Friday. “And the general theme from the airlines at this conference was nervousness about the fuel costs and not really wanting to commit to any growth over the next six months until that picture settles in a little bit.”
Asked how that might impact summer flights in and out of EGE, Reid said things are holding steady. And he adds that Spirit is not one of the air carriers in and out of EGE.
“There’s a general nervousness in the industry about fuel costs, but we haven’t seen any immediate impacts from that, and it’s just something we’re going to have to keep an eye on,” Reid said. “The next six months or so in the summer, it’s United and American that do the summer flying. So the legacy carriers are probably set up a little better to handle those costs, but we’ll keep our eye on it. At this point, no impacts, but we’ll certainly look for that.”
Beside year-round United flights to Denver, the last two years EGE added direct flights to Chicago and Houston in the summertime, and they’re back this summer.
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“Even in its second summer, (Chicago on American and United) was averaging like 75% load factor … which is great,” Reid said. “And this summer will be even better. (Houston on United has) has great connectivity down through Mexico and other countries or other airports on the East Coast as well. That one is growing just as well as the Chicago one is.”
The Houston connections to Latin America are especially important given the strength of that market for Vail and Beaver Creek visitors and second homeowners. Despite one of the worst ski seasons in terms of snowfall this past winter, that market was still very reliable, Reid said.
“What we’re seeing in that market, even on the private (jet) side, if they’re not flying commercial, but private, snow or not, they still come up here in the wintertime,” Reid said. “It’s a great getaway for them. So that market did not shrink at all. That’s just continuing to grow … (because of) the overall experience in the valley.”
Another market that’s continuing to grow for EGE, although he does have the most up-to-date stats, is the local traveler looking to avoid Interstate 70 snarls, the high cost of parking and shuttle rides at Denver International Airport and the overall loss of time getting to the city.
When EGE added Frontier and Alaska for the 2024-25 season, it dropped from one of the most expensive airports in the nation to 19th. While Frontier made a business decision and pulled out of the market, Alaska is still offering flights, and overall capacity has increased as more and more locals are catching on that slightly higher prices offset travel hassles to Denver.
“We just did a fare study and the latest data they had was third quarter of 2025,” Reid said. “They didn’t have rankings in there, but what they showed was the average domestic fare out of EGE went down another $50 per ticket year over year.”
More locals and loyal national and international visitors to Vail and Beaver Creek has EGE on track still for a third straight record season in terms of enplanements. And things have not dropped off significantly despite the low-snow year and national and international turmoil.
Vail Valley Partnership President and CEO Chris Romer, a member of the EGE Air Alliance as the head of the valley-wide chamber of commerce, said lodging reservations are ahead of last year’s pace by a wide margin.
“I just ran lodging data reports. We’re pacing up 9.5% in lodging occupancy for the summer season in Vail compared to the same time last year,” Romer said, adding international events don’t always impact Vail and Beaver Creek as much as other tourism destinations.
“Historically, any national macroeconomic or geopolitical impacts to destination travel, out of state, tends to result in an increase in drive traffic for the summer,” Romer said despite local concerns about soaring gas prices.
“So we don’t really see a change in visitation, but see a change in booking patterns, closer to arrival, and length of stay (shorter) when the economy sees some turbulence,” Romer added.
And that doesn’t mean just peak summer when things pick up in mid- to late-June and roll steadily through July and August, which are the busiest traffic months on I-70.
“We see a year-over-year increase in mid-May and again for Memorial Day weekend,” Romer said. “That isn’t peak summer season, but shows we’re resilient.”
For more information on the Eagle County Regional Airport, go to FlyEGE.com.
