The newly renovated Aspen / Pitkin County Airport runway as viewed from the Aspen Airline Trail on Thursday June 3, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner / The Aspen Times)

Flights to and from the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport are in full swing this summer, with a focus on the Texas market.

There will be six daily bouts starting this week from Texas and seven on Saturday with American Airlines’ new nonstop service from Austin, according to Bill Tomcich, a local airline advisor.

It’s double the capacity of summer 2019 when United Airlines offered a daily non-stop service from Houston and American twice daily from Dallas-Fort Worth.

As of Thursday, United has been offering flights from Houston twice a day, and American has four daily flights from Dallas-Fort Worth.

The maiden flight from Austin is the first new non-stop route since Houston added more than 10 years ago, according to Tomcich.

He said he introduced Austin to American Airlines as a new market opportunity last fall after doing some research.

“I’ve advised that Austin is the # 1 departure point for travelers to Aspen who are within range of a CRJ700 that is not currently served non-stop,” he said via email. “It’s not a hub for American, but as luck would have it, American announced a major expansion into Austin in March, and Aspen is the only mountain resort destination included in that Austin expansion.”

He added that American has made a concerted effort to create the new flight as the airline does not have CRJ700 aircraft serving Austin-based Aspen.

The flight begins early in the morning from Dallas to Austin and then to Aspen. And the one-way flight from Aspen lands in Austin and continues to Dallas, Tomcich said.

“This is also the first time in the history of Aspen Airport that a major network carrier has implemented a point-to-point non-stop route, which means it doesn’t start or end at a major hub,” he said .

Also on Thursday, United resumed its non-stop service from five hubs.

Between the two airlines that serve the local market, there are 23 daily flights to and from Aspen this summer and 24 on Saturdays.

Tomcich said he believes airline ticket prices, which have increased, will be offset by so many flights to Aspen.

“If we didn’t see the capacity increases planned for this summer, we would probably expect huge price increases,” he said. “As long as there is capacity to meet expected demand this summer and we have more flights planned than ever before, including summer 2019 when a total of 20 daily flights were offered, I would expect prices to remain competitive. “

csackariason@aspentimes.com

Aspen-Pitkin County Airport runway before and after a recent renovation project.