Brief by Allen Best
Energy – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Jim Crown, the managing partner for the Chicago-based family that owns the Aspen Skiing Co., says he’s worried about how the price of fuel is affecting airlines.
“Airlines are an extremely important form of mass transit, and the lifeblood of any destination resort,” he told The Aspen Times. If the airlines cut service, that “would be bad for us.”
He wants to see the runway at Pitkin County Airfield lengthened, not only to increase safety, but “to give us the best chance to make the area accessible to the greatest number of these new, fuel-efficient regional jets.”
If the new generation of regional jets cannot be accommodated, he says, residents and visitors “might find themselves with very limited and expensive air travel choices, and be spending a lot more time in their cars. That would hurt the valley both financially and environmentally.”
