Montrose Regional Airport

Montrose Regional Airport
The entrance sign with the terminal building in the background
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorMontrose County
LocationMontrose, Colorado
Elevation AMSL5,759 ft / 1,755 m
Coordinates38°30′35.26″N 107°53′39.27″W / 38.5097944°N 107.8942417°W / 38.5097944; -107.8942417
Websitewww.flymontrose.com
Maps

FAA airport diagram
Interactive map of Montrose Regional Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 10,000 3,048 Asphalt
13/31 7,510 2,289 Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

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]

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 AirlinesSeasonal: Dallas/Fort Worth[5]
Breeze Airways Seasonal: Orange County [6]
Delta Air LinesSeasonal: Atlanta[7]
Southwest AirlinesDenver[8]
Seasonal: Dallas–Love,[9] Nashville[10]
United AirlinesDenver[8]
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare,[8] Houston–Intercontinental,[8] Newark[8]
United ExpressDenver[8]
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare,[8] Houston–Intercontinental,[8] Los Angeles,[8] San Francisco[8]
Destinations map
Destinations from Montrose Regional Airport
Red = Year-round destination
Green = Seasonal destination
Blue = Future destination

Statistics

Passengers

PassengersYear100,000200,000300,000400,000500,0002016201720182019202020212022PassengersAnnual passenger traffic

Top destinations

Busiest domestic routes from MTJ
(November 2024 – October 2025)[11]
Rank City Passengers Airlines
1 Denver, Colorado 146,630 United, Southwest
2 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 61,390 American
3 Atlanta, Georgia 10,280 Delta
4 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 10,000 United
5 Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois 7,110 United
6 Newark, New Jersey 6,920 United
7 Dallas-Love Field, Texas 6,230 Southwest
8 Orange County, California 2,980 Breeze
9 San Francisco, California 2,150 United
10 Los Angeles, California 1,640 United

Airline market share

Airline market share (November 2024 – October 2025)[11]
Rank Carrier Passengers Market

Share

1 United 197,000 38.69%
2 Southwest 113,000 22.16%
3 American 96,770 19.01%
4 SkyWest 33,590 6.60%
5 Envoy 22,810 4.48%
Others 46,070 9.05%

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

  • On April 13, 1973, a Continental Airlines North American Sabreliner on a positioning flight crashed shortly after takeoff when a thrust reverser deployed in flight. Both occupants on board were killed.[12]
  • On November 28, 2004, a Global Aviation Canadair CL-600 with six occupants on board crashed shortly after takeoff due to ice and snow contamination on the wings. Two crew members and one passenger, the son of Dick Ebersol and Susan Saint James, died.[13]
  • On June 23, 2025, a Murphy Moose on a ferrying/positioning flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Montrose. Both occupants were killed.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ Peters, Amy (20 October 2025). "Expanded air service into Montrose for winter". The Telluride Times. Montrose, NM. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ Wiggins, Mike (26 October 2023). "Airport reaches new heights - News". Montrose, NM. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Peters, Amy (20 October 2025). "Expanded air service into Montrose for winter". The Telluride Times. The Telluride Times. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
  9. ^ "2023 - 2024 Winter Flight Schedule". Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  10. ^ "Southwest Expands Service at BNA with Connections Across U.S., Latin America". Williamson Source. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "RITA | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. January 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  12. ^ Accident description for N743R at the Aviation Safety Network
  13. ^ Accident description for N873G at the Aviation Safety Network
  14. ^ "Accident description for N250MK at Aviation Safety Network". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.