Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
Royal West, like so many other airlines of its era, started with grandiose dreams that turned nightmarish as financial turbulence set in in early 1987. The airline operated from June of 1986 until late February of 1987....
As to question 17, once again Royal West flies to the rescue with its nonstop flight from LAX to EGE. Let's hope that our intrepid skier from Martinez had a flight back out of Vail as YM ceased operations during ski season in February 1987....
Royal West YM 1692 Los Angeles (LAX) 125p – 425p Vail (EGE) BAe-146 Sa only
I remember seeing Royal West BAe 146-200 aircraft at Burbank as this air carrier was serving Las Vegas nonstop from BUR at the time.
It also appears that Royal West was the first airline to operate jet service into the Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) which at the time of your quiz question had a 5,000 foot runway (which is currently 9,000 feet in length). Thus, the BAe 146-200 service into this relatively short airstrip back then.
Prior to the Royal West BAe 146-200 service into EGE, the airfield was served by Rocky Mountain Airways and Monarch Airlines, both operating the DHC-6 Twin Otter with Rocky Mountain later introducing Dash 7 service. Monarch was a Grand Junction-based commuter air carrier and was thus not related to the UK airline of the same name. Here's their 1987 route map and timetable:
https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/9m8701.htm
The Eagle County Regional Airport is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of around 6,540 feet and reportedly served as a very basic emergency landing strip back in the 1930's on the Los Angeles - Denver route. It was improved in 1947 as a general aviation facility. Years later it became a very busy airfield during the winter ski season, of course. Several old friends who retired as captains with American flew 757-200 service into EGE back in the day and have commented that it could be a very interesting airfield to operate into at times due to certain weather conditions.