Airport Layout Plan

What is an Airport Layout Plan (ALP)?

An Airport Layout Plan (ALP) is a scaled, graphical presentation of the existing and future airport facilities, their location on the airport campus, and pertinent clearance and dimensional information.  The ALP is a major product of the Master Plan Update which contains information used by the FAA to program future funding assistance and to monitor the airport’s compliance with design standards and grant assurances.  It also allows the FAA to anticipate budgetary and procedural needs, and to protect the airspace required for facility or aircraft approach procedure improvements.  An up-to-date FAA-approved ALP that ensures the safety, utility, and efficiency of the Airport is required for the Airport to receive financial assistance under the terms of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 (AIP) and to be able to receive specific Passenger Facility Charge funding.

An ALP, which is a public document that serves as a record of present and future aeronautical requirements, is a blueprint for airport development by which the airport sponsor – in this case, the sponsor is Pitkin County – can ensure that development remains consistent with airport design standards and safety requirements, as well as airport and community land use plans.

FAA regulations dictate that an ALP remains current for a five-year period, or longer, unless major changes at the airport are made or planned.

PURPOSE:

  • Ensures a safe airport design and efficient airport facility
  • Allows for the protection of area airspace
  • Assists the FAA in anticipating capital funding needs
  • Helps the airport and FAA manage and enforce Federal Grant Assurance obligation
  • Required to receive FAA funding for airport improvements

 

ASE ALP FOCUS AREAS:

  • Existing layout – today
  • Future layout – planned
  • Area airspace
  • Passenger terminal, parking and roads
  • Land use around the airport
  • Airport property map

 

Link to the >> 2024 (current) version of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport Layout Plan (ALP)

Forecast for future air travel

A forecast for future air travel is part of the Airport Layout Plan (ALP).

The draft airport passenger and aircraft forecast include the number of current and estimated future commercial passengers, commercial operations and total operations, including private General Aviation flights, as well as the types of potential planes that are anticipated to serve the Aspen Airport (ASE) in the future.

Determining the likely types of aircraft that will operate at ASE in the future is a critical component of the forecast. For planning purposes, the FAA does not allow restrictions which “unjustly discriminate” or prohibit certain types of aircraft operations that are currently certified to safely operate at ASE. As such, the likely future fleet for ASE includes the CRJ-700, Embraer-175LR and Airbus A220-100/300.

Airport passenger forecast

Historical trends provide guidance for forecasting potential future enplanement growth. At ASE, annual passenger growth from 2000 to 2019 was 2.3% annually.

The Common Ground Recommendations developed by the community during the ASE Vision process state, “we recognize that our 0.8% enplanement growth goal is both aspirational and approximate. Federal law limits our ability to set exact enplanement limits, but we urge using our limited tools as best we can.”

The passenger forecast presented to the AAB contains a 1.3% growth forecast. The difference between the 0.8% growth rate in the Common Ground Recommendations and the 1.3% forecasted rate, which is expected to meet FAA requirements for accuracy, equates to an average difference of less than six enplanements per day.

Link to the >> 2023 ALP Update Aviation Demand Forecast Aspen/Pitkin County Airport