Airways Article Brings National Attention to Colorado Springs Airport Growth

Colorado Springs has cultivated a strong presence in the national headlines this year for its downtown, business environment, and desirability. Add another factor to that list: the city’s booming airport.

Colorado Springs Airport’s recent growth and development serve as the centerpiece of an August feature in Airways, one of the nation’s leading aviation-focused publications. The article, “Meet the Little Big Airport — Colorado Springs,” gives recognition to the airport’s vast array of new flights, huge uptick in passengers, and major growth of private business located at the airport.

“With the continued infrastructure developments and the addition of new flights, it’s easy to see why airlines, aviation companies and — perhaps most importantly — passengers are drawn here. And it seems [Colorado Springs Airport Director of Aviation Greg Phillips] feels the same way.

‘Why shouldn’t Colorado Springs — with as much military and as much aviation as is here already — why shouldn’t we be a center of aviation and aerospace development?’”

Airways writer Annie Flodin reports that Colorado Springs has seen 730,000 passengers in the first half of 2017 — a 25 percent passenger increase compared to the same timeframe last year. Overall, the airport is growing three times faster than Denver International Airport.

Some of the private businesses expanding at the airport include Global SuperTanker — owners of the world’s largest firefighting plane — as well as Sierra Completions, Rampart Aviation and Cutter Aviation. Sierra Completions plans to bring 2,100 jobs to Colorado Springs over the next five years, and is planning a $100 million project that will focus on remodeling aircraft into flying offices for businesses.