After nine years as director of Yampa Valley Regional Airport, Kevin Booth may be partial, but he often tells people, “I don’t know why you would drive to Denver in the dead of winter to get on a plane.”

National airline statistics show that although the regional airport in Hayden is located at 6,606 feet in elevation in a snowy region, YVRA flight reliability rates are on par with the national average. Plus, Booth points out, that national average includes a lot of locations with much better weather.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the on-time arrival performance airline rate across the nation from January to September was 76.18% with a 1.63% cancellation rate. The comparable data points for Hayden were close at 74.45% and 2.15%. At Denver International Airport the rates are 74.19% and 1.93%.

By comparison, the mountain resort airport that is most challenging is Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, which rates 62.65% for on-time arrival and 5.59% for cancellation.

“The main thing people like to assume is it’s our weather or something around the operations of this airport that cause ground delays or cancellations, but that is not very often the case,” Booth said. “We get lots of snow, but we are well-equipped and staffed to handle the snow.”

As the airport readies for the huge, annual winter increase in flights and customers through the next 10 days, Booth talked about some details that not all YVRA flyers may realize.

Summer thunderstorms in Denver or winter weather across the nation are more often the culprit causing flights delays, the airport director said.

“From talking to operators or pilots from the airlines, they really like the airport. We just don’t have high terrain hazards,” said Booth, a retired Air Force colonel who had a long career managing military airfields from Germany to Alaska.

Challenging crosswinds are rare at the Hayden airport, and storms are often transient and pass in 15-20 minutes, Booth said. Winds along the runways in Hayden are favorable to pilots, with winds generally streaming the same direction as the runway from the east in the mornings and then switching midday to blow from the west.

Steamboat Springs resident and 20-year pilot Scott Middleton agreed that Hayden is a favorable mountain airport for pilots due to the lower approach profile and good snow maintenance crews. Middleton flies to Wyoming, Utah and Idaho with Skyroads Aviation and noted all mountain airports can be challenging with possible snow squalls, fog, drifting snow on runways and turbulence upon descent or climb.

“One of the advantages of Hayden is its very long runway, nearly 10,000 feet, oriented east and west generally in the prevailing wind direction, and crosswinds are typically not a factor that we have to deal with in Hayden,” Middleton said.

If flights are delayed leaving Hayden, that may stem from de-icing time that can range from 20 to 45 minutes depending on the plane size and conditions. Pilots make the call regarding if and what type of de-icing they want, Booth said. To help with de-icing delays, YVRA will have four de-icing platforms ready for 2024, increased from two in 2022.

YVRA serves flights to and from Denver from mid-April to mid-December through Southwest and United airlines with three or four flights per day. Houston flights on United were restarted last summer, and Booth believes those will return next summer.

From mid-December through the end of March, flights at Hayden increase to six airlines — including American, Delta, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines — to and from 16 airports for 18-28 flights per day.

Booth’s advice for YVRA travelers is although the airport is smaller and less busy in the summer than during the busy winter season, the wait to go through Transportation Security Administration security can reach 30 minutes. Plus, icy roads and set shuttle schedules may slow the drive, so Booth recommends planning for a longer winter arrival time of two hours before a flight.

The director’s most pointed advice in the winter is not to schedule a connecting flight at Denver International Airport or other airports with less than 90 minutes of layover time to allow for possible de-icing departure delays from Hayden. Planning a tight travel schedule is not worth the stress of missing a connecting flight, Booth said.

“Too often people are making connecting flights for 30 minutes — that’s not enough in the winter,” Booth said.

Currently the only certified airplane mechanic working in the valley is Mountain Aircraft Maintenance owner John Duffy, based at Steamboat Springs Airport. Now in his 23rd winter in the job, Duffy serves the six airlines at Hayden. He commonly is called to Hayden due to possible frozen water lines in the winter or to inspect engines for damage after bird strikes in the spring. During five months last winter, Duffy was called to the Hayden airport 145 times.

“Most of the time I’m just the frontline guy for the airlines,” Duffy said. “I’m their eyes and hands to let them know what’s going on.”

Sometimes Duffy is more plumber than mechanic, as he has pulled everything from a wine bottle to diapers from stopped-up airplane toilets.

Although Booth said the airport has not seen growth in Uber and Lyft drivers, it is served by three shuttle services, three car rental agencies and 21 private car services.