Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ice, or salt).

By extension, the term has also come to mean any long, flat, straight area, such as that used in fashion shows.

Orientation and dimensions

Eagle County Regional Airport (IATA: EGE, ICAO: KEGE, FAA LID: EGE), sometimes referred to as Vail/Eagle Airport or the Eagle Vail Airport, is a public airport located four miles (6 km) west of Eagle, Colorado, United States. The airport serves its namesake Eagle County, which includes visitors to the nearby Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts. It covers 632 acres (256 ha) and is configured with a single runway. The History Channel rated Eagle County Regional Airport as #8 on its list of Most Extreme Airports in July 2010 due to the altitude, weather variability, an approach through mountainous terrain and challenging departure procedures. In 2008-2009, the airport finished its runway repaving and extension which brought the runway up to 9,000 feet. This enables planes to take off with more weight.

The airport is highly seasonal, and most of its scheduled flights only operate from EGE during the winter. It is the second busiest airport in Colorado during the ski season, the first beingDenver International Airport. Operations into the airport during the summer months have proven to be increasingly popular with tourists, but only United Express and American Airlines offer service year-round. Due to the abundance of flights (and bad weather) during the ski season, some passengers fly into EGE rather than attempting to fly into Aspen. The Eagle County Airport is also popular with private aircraft operators.