As tourists and visitors increase in Summit and Wasatch counties, so do flights through the Heber Valley Airport.
An analysis of flight arrivals and departures shows the Heber Valley Airport has gotten busier since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Over the past three years, the busiest times have been during holidays and summers. In 2020 and 2021, an average of 40 to 50 flights a day flew into or out of the Heber airport from summer into fall. That’s double the amount of flights in the same time period in 2019.
Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays also show a spike in air traffic in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019.
December flights nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020 and remained high this month. Flights went from an average of 16 a day in 2019 to 31 in 2020. This December saw even more daily traffic - peaking at 49 flights on December 23, before winter storms hit the area.
The airport and Heber City are working on a master plan to upgrade safety features. The recent spike in traffic puts more emphasis on that plan, especially with larger planes using the airport more.
“We’re going to keep the master planning process, saying, ‘We have this certain amount of land; what are we going to do with it?’” says Heber Valley Airport Manager Travis Biggs. “Because we can either encourage jet traffic by putting in another giant [fixed base operator] and providing services for jets, or we can use it for things that are more beneficial to the community and provide jobs, like a restaurant, stuff for our smaller pilots so they have something to do instead of just catering to the jets.”
Biggs says community input is important. He encourages people to look at frequently asked questions and answers about airport-related topics, the master plan timeline and public meeting dates at hebervalleyflightpath.com.
He also invites the public to visit the airport to learn more in person.
“Basically anytime anyone wants to learn more about the airport, they can come and talk to the airport manager,” he says. “A couple times a month, we have open houses, and if people want to come they can come to the airport and look at charts and facts and maps, and ask questions in person and meet with the city manager and engineers and airport manager.”
For a more detailed analysis of airport traffic over the past few years, visit flightaware.com.