Montrose Regional Airport

Airport in Montrose, Colorado

Montrose Regional Airport

The entrance sign with the terminal building in the background

* IATA: MTJ
* ICAO: KMTJ
* FAA LID: MTJ

Summary
Airport type| Public
Operator| Montrose County
Location| Montrose, Colorado
Elevation AMSL| 5,759 ft / 1,755 m
Coordinates| 38°30′35.26″N 107°53′39.27″W﻿ / ﻿38.5097944°N 107.8942417°W﻿ / 38.5097944; -107.8942417
Website| www.flymontrose.com
Map

MTJ

Location of airport in Colorado

Show map of Colorado

MTJ

MTJ (the United States)

Show map of the United States

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[edit]

### Passenger[edit]

Airlines| Destinations| Refs

|
|

| |
American Airlines| Dallas/Fort Worth|
American Eagle| Dallas/Fort Worth|
Delta Air Lines| Seasonal: Atlanta|
Southwest Airlines| Denver
Seasonal: Austin (resumes March 2, 2024),[5] Dallas–Love|
United Airlines| Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Newark|
United Express| Denver
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Houston–Intercontinental, Los Angeles, San Francisco|
Destinations map

Montrose

Atlanta

Chicago–O'Hare

Dallas/Fort Worth

Dallas–Love

Denver

Houston–Intercontinental

Los Angeles

Newark

San Francisco

Austin

class=notpageimage|

Destinations from Montrose Regional Airport
Red = Year-round destination
Green = Seasonal destination
Blue = Future destination

## Statistics[edit]

### Passengers[edit]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues.

|

Annual passenger traffic at MTJ airport. See 1949). FILTER (?year < YEAR(NOW())) } } AS %airport WHERE { { # Get the sum of monthly values within a year SELECT ?item ?year (SUM(?max_numberperperiod) AS ?number) (SAMPLE(?monthly_reference_URL) AS ?monthly_reference_URL2) WHERE { # Get the maximal value and a sample reference URL for each unique month { SELECT ?item ?year (MAX(?numberperperiod) AS ?max_numberperperiod) (SAMPLE(?reference_URL) AS ?monthly_reference_URL) WHERE { INCLUDE %airport ?timevalue wikibase:timePrecision ?prec. FILTER (?prec > 9)# precision more precise or equal to month } GROUP BY ?item ?year ?date } } GROUP BY ?item ?year } UNION { ?timevalue wikibase:timePrecision 9 . BIND (?numberperperiod AS ?number) BIND (?reference_URL AS ?sample_reference_URL) INCLUDE %airport } OPTIONAL {?item wdt:P1813 ?this. # has shortname FILTER(LANG(?this)="en") } SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "[AUTO_LANGUAGE],en,en". ?item rdfs:label ?itemLabel.} BIND(COALESCE(?this,?itemLabel) as ?shortname) } GROUP BY ?item ?shortname ?year ORDER BY ?item DESC (?year)">Wikidata query.

### Top destinations[edit]

Busiest domestic routes from MTJ
(April 2022 - March 2023)[6] Rank  | City  | Passengers  | Airlines

|
|
|

1  | Denver, Colorado | 118,000  | United, Southwest
2  | Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas | 59,000  | American
3  | Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois | 16,000  | American, United
4  | Atlanta, Georgia | 13,000  | Delta
5  | Houston–Intercontinental, Texas | 11,000  | United
6  | Newark, New Jersey | 6,000  | United
7  | Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona | 6,000  | American
8  | San Francisco, California | 3,000  | United
9  | Dallas-Love Field, Texas | 2,000  | Southwest
10  | Los Angeles, California | 1,000  | American, United

### Airline market share[edit]

Airline Market Share (April 2022 - March 2023)[7] Rank  | Carrier  | Passengers  | Market

Share

|
|
|

1  | SkyWest | 125,000  | 26.74%
2  | Southwest | 111,000  | 23.76%
3  | American | 98,270  | 20.95%
4  | United | 69,110  | 14.73%
5  | Mesa | 30,100  | 6.42%
| Others  | 34,720  | 7.40%

## 2010-2011 terminal project[edit]

Montrose Regional Airport remodeled and expanded the passenger terminal, adding 10,935 sq. ft. by lengthening the terminal 80 feet to the south. The expansion added space for passenger check-in, larger departure lounge, and space at the security checkpoint.

## Based aircraft and operations[edit]

In the year ending December 31, 2017, the airport had 36,550 aircraft operations, average 100 per day: 19% air carrier, <1% air taxi, 75% general aviation and 5% military. At the time, there were 81 aircraft based at MTJ, 59 single-engine, 13 multi-engine, two jets, three helicopters, three gliders and one ultra-light.[1]

## Major accidents near MTJ[edit]

* 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, and both occupants on board were killed.[8]
* 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 died.[9]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c FAA Airport Form 5010 for MTJ PDF, effective December 30, 2021.
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. 6:39 AM MDT April 9, 2019. Retrieved 2023-11-01. `{{cite web}}`: Check date values in: `|date=` (help)
5. ^ "2023 - 2024 Winter Flight Schedule". Retrieved October 17, 2023.
6. ^ "RITA | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. January 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
7. ^ "OST_R | BTS | Transtats". Bureau of Transportation Statistics. United States Department of Transportation. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
8. ^ Accident description for N743R at the Aviation Safety Network
9. ^ Accident description for N873G at the Aviation Safety Network

## External links[edit]

* Official website

* Resources for this airport:
* FAA airport information for MTJ
* AirNav airport information for KMTJ
* ASN accident history for MTJ
* FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
* NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
* SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures