Eagle County airport lands Delta flight to New York City starting in December
Flights will be offered for sale on airlines website as of April 5
Eagle County/Courtesy photo
It’s been a big 2025 at the Eagle County Regional Airport.
That year got bigger Friday, when Delta Air Lines announced it would begin nonstop seasonal service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport beginning Dec. 20. The flight will operate on Saturdays only through March 28, 2026 on a Boeing 757.
In a statement, a Delta spokesperson wrote, “We’re excited to give residents of the Vail Valley direct access to New York City, a destination rich with culture, dining, entertainment, and more. This new service from Eagle County Airport not only makes it easier to explore the city that never sleeps, but also provides easy one-stop connections to 16 international destinations through JFK.”
Jonathan Reap, director of sales and marketing at the Four Seasons Vail, called the news “very exciting,” noting that many of the hotel’s winter guests come from New York and the surrounding area.
“It’s very welcome news for us,” Reap said, adding that “Vail is to New York and the East Coast what Aspen is to California.”
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Reap added that he’s “really impressed” with the efforts put in by airport officials, as well as people with the Vail Valley Partnership and the EGE Air Alliance, the local group dedicated to building air service into the airport.
Venture Sports owner Mike Brumbaugh is a former EGE Air Alliance board member. He said the flight from New York will bring in “exactly the people we want.” Instead of day skiers, Brumbaugh said people flying in on the weekly flight will stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and, perhaps, eventually buy real estate in the Vail Valley.
From a locals’ perspective, Brumbaugh noted that even those who don’t want to spend time in the Big Apple can use flight connections from JFK to fly virtually anywhere else in the world.
Delta’s choice of aircraft is significant, since the 757 seats roughly 200 people. The 757 is a larger aircraft than most planes flying into and out of Eagle County. Most of those aircraft are either Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s, which seat roughly 150 passengers.
According to Eagle County Aviation Director David Reid, airlines are largely retiring the 757, which went out of production many years ago. The only routes currently using the 757 are the Delta flight from Atlanta and a United flight from Newark.
The growth of service into Eagle County started in July 2024, when Alaska Airlines announced it would begin winter service to Eagle County from San Diego and Seattle.
That was followed by an announcement in October 2024, when Frontier Airlines announced it would begin service to Eagle County from Dallas, Denver and San Francisco.
While Eagle County airport officials are delaying an announcement about the Delta flight from New York, pending final details, Delta will have the flights loaded into its system for sale as of April 5
