Is ASE gone with the Avros?
 

I fly to Aspen every winter to visit friends and have been wondering for awhile if the demise of the Avros means that service will be discontinued. With the altitude and short runway, these were the only commercial jet aircraft that could make it in and out. Out of curiosity, I tried to pull up flights for next December and January and nothing comes up. No service.

Is this the end - or am I just looking to early to find anything?

FWIW - The planned runway extension project appears to have been put off for a year, so for now it's Avro, turboprop, or nuthin...

A Mesaba FA told me a few weeks ago that they were still sending their pilots to get ASE certified, so it seems that service will continue for a while.

It does not appear that MSP-ASE will operate this summer, like it did last year.

The Avro's are supposedly gone by year-end '06. The absolute date is questionable. Skywest will be flying into ASE using CRJ-700's next winter for United out of DEN and I believe for DL too from SLC.

Since NW will not have any CRJ-700's in its fleet by this winter, the question remains that, will NW keep some Avro's around through next winter to bridge the gap until they get something in Compass's fleet? Also, the outcome of the RFP for Pinnacle's CRJ flying could determine this. If another carrier is brought into the Airlink family, they may have CRJ-700's which operate into ASE.

For now, there is no sure answer as to what will happen next winter.

Can the "CJ8" version of the CRJ get to ASE?

No, the "CJ8" - hot & high version of the CRJ-200 is not ASE capable, at least on a lengthly flight like MSP-ASE.

replacement for Avros into ASE?
 

I suspect that CR7s will be used but can anyone offer comments on the abilities of the E170/190 series from an "engine out" and economic viewpoint?

There have been quite a few discussions about ASE and CRJs on the Airliners.net forums.