Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Montrose Regional Airport (KMTJ) sits on the northwest edge of Montrose in southwestern Colorado, at a field elevation of 5,719 feet, and is the principal airline gateway to the ski resorts of the Western Slope, including Telluride. Its long runway 17/35, built in the 1990s, together with an ILS approach, makes it a notable high-elevation destination for both airline traffic and general aviation pilots flying in mountainous terrain.
Montrose Regional Airport is a public airport operated by Montrose County on the northwest side of Montrose, Colorado. It is the busiest airport on the Western Slope, handling scheduled airline services alongside general aviation, and is of particular interest to visiting pilots because of its high elevation, its long instrument-equipped runway, and its role as the principal air gateway for skiers and tourists heading to Telluride and other nearby resorts.
The airport lies on the northwest side of Montrose, in southwestern Colorado, at an elevation of 5,719 feet. It is described as a non-towered field despite handling scheduled airline traffic, and it serves as a backup destination for flights when weather closes the higher, more challenging airport at Telluride, roughly ninety minutes away by road.
Montrose Regional has two hard-surfaced, lit runways. Runway 17/35 is 9,987 feet long, with an ILS approach serving runway 17. Runway 13/31 is 7,489 feet long. Both runways are substantial by general aviation standards, reflecting the airport's role in supporting airline jet operations at high elevation.
Weather information is broadcast on the ASOS at 135.225 MHz. Traffic at the non-towered field is coordinated on the CTAF/UNICOM frequency 122.8 MHz. Denver Center provides en-route air traffic control on 125.35 MHz, with a remote radio outlet at 122.65 MHz. An ILS approach is available for runway 17.
Montrose's airline history dates to the 1940s, when Monarch Airlines began serving the field; its successor, Frontier Airlines, operated flights from the 1950s until 1986, initially with Convair 580s and later, from 1982, with Boeing 737-200 jets, at a time when the main runway (then numbered 12/30) measured 8,500 feet. An enhanced and expanded airport was dedicated on 25 June 1988, with test pilot Chuck Yeager cutting the ribbon; the terminal was designed by local architect Patrik Davis with design references to Ute and Hopi motifs. The present runway 17/35, at 10,000 feet as built, was constructed during the 1990s. The airport has also been the site of serious accidents, including the loss of a Continental Airlines Sabreliner on a positioning flight in April 1973 after an in-flight thrust reverser deployment, the crash of a Global Aviation Canadair CL-600 in November 2004 shortly after takeoff due to airframe ice contamination, which killed two crew and a passenger, and the loss of a Murphy Moose on a ferry flight in June 2025.
Montrose Regional is the busiest airport on the Western Slope, seeing its heaviest traffic during the winter ski season and again in summer, when it serves both scheduled airline flights and general aviation. Scheduled carriers have included United Express and Southwest Airlines to Denver, American Eagle to Dallas/Fort Worth, and seasonal services from Delta and Breeze Airways, alongside additional peak-season routes. In the year ending December 2022 the airport recorded around 23,400 aircraft movements, roughly two-thirds of them general aviation, with 93 aircraft based on the field, predominantly single-engine types alongside a smaller number of multi-engine aircraft, jets, helicopters, gliders and an ultralight. The terminal opens two hours before the first scheduled departure and closes one hour after the last arrival, with administrative offices open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.