Colorado Air and Space Port

Front Range Airport {{Airport codes||KFTG|FTG}} opened in 1984 when the now demolished Stapleton International Airport {{Airport codes||KDEN|DEN}} was the major air hub for the Denver metropolitan area. Until 2005, it was a non-towered airport without air traffic control (ATC) services when the tallest general aviation control tower in the United States (191 ft) was opened along with full ATC services.{{cite web |url=http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=90364 |title = Front Range Airport Air Traffic Control Tower, Aurora - SkyscraperPage.com}} After 19 years as airport director, Dennis Heap and the airport board parted ways in August 2013.{{cite news |title=Front Range Airport Executive Director Departs |newspaper=Parabolic Arc |date=August 25, 2013}} Heap was replaced in the late spring of 2014 by Dave Ruppel.

{{cite news |title=Front Range Airport Executive Director Departs |newspaper=Parabolic Arc |date=August 25, 2013}} The airport was originally owned by the Front Range Airport Authority (FRAA), continuing until January 1, 2014, when the FRAA was dissolved and the airport and all employees were folded into Adams County government as a department. Since then, the airport has seen a marked improvement in general aviation, air-taxi, military traffic as well as other air-based businesses, such as the helicopter-based businesses of Air Methods.

Colorado Air and Space Port covers an area of {{convert|3,349|acre|ha}} which contains two asphalt paved runways, 8/26 is 8,002 ft x 100 ft (2,439 x 30 m) and 17/35, measuring {{convert|8000|by|100|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}.

For the 12-month ending December 31, 2019, the airport had 75,647 aircraft operations, an average of 207 per day: 98.5% general aviation, <1% air taxi and 1.4% military. There was at the time 292 aircraft based at this airport: 247 single-engine, 38 multi-engine, 4 helicopters, 1 ultralight, and 2 jet aircraft.{{Cite web|url=https://adip.faa.gov/agis/public/#/airportData/CFO|title = Airport Data and Information Portal}}

The airport also hosts an armory belonging to the Colorado Army National Guard. HHC, 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group is based there. There are no military aircraft based at the airport.

In October 2011, the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, formally requested that the federal government designate Colorado a "spaceport state" and that the airport be designated a spaceport for suborbital horizontal takeoff flights (HTVL and HTHL).

{{cite news |last=Schrader|first=Ann |title=Economic potential of proposed Colorado spaceport "another star in our sky" |url=http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19567466 |accessdate=December 24, 2011 |newspaper=Denver Post |date=December 18, 2011 }}

Spaceport designation would allow a facility offering suborbital tourism, travel, and cargo transport from one point to another on Earth. The Denver Post reported that "No vertical launches are planned at the Front Range, unlike most of the other eight certified U.S. spaceports. Instead, space planes — an emerging technology — will use regular runways and jet engines to take off and land, switching to rocket power above 50,000 feet."

Media sources in 2012 suggested that the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser spaceplane might be used for suborbital spaceflights and that Colorado Air and Space Port might prove to be the preferred location, over Spaceport America in New Mexico.{{cite news|title=Plan B for Dream Chaser?|url=http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=37787|accessdate=May 14, 2012|newspaper=RLV and Space Transport News|date=May 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726184925/http://hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=37787|archive-date=July 26, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}

News reports indicated that the Colorado Air and Space Port proposal was gaining traction with political interests at the state and federal levels as well as with industry participants.

{{cite news |last=David|first=Leonard |title=Potential Colorado Spaceport Plan Gaining Steam |url=http://www.space.com/15829-colorado-spaceport-private-spaceflight.html |accessdate=May 23, 2012 |newspaper=Space.com |date=May 23, 2012}}

One of those commercial interests was XCOR Aerospace, which was considering Spaceport Colorado as a candidate for HTHL operations with their Lynx rocketplane.

However, XCOR announced in July 2012 that they would be moving their company headquarters and research and development activities to Texas, in part due to a significant set of financial incentives ({{currency|10000000|US}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Midland-Texas-ideal-destinations-for-aviation-7439252.php|title=Midland, Texas ideal destinations for aviation industry, officials say|first=Kathleen|last=Petty|date=July 9, 2012|website=Midland Reporter-Telegram}}) offered to XCOR by the Midland Development Corporation (MDC) and the Midland City Council.

{{cite news |last=Carreau|first=Mark |title=XCOR Selects West Texas For Suborbital, Orbital R&D Hub |url=http://www.aviationweek.com/awmobile/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/asd_07_10_2012_p07-01-475035.xml |accessdate=August 4, 2012 |newspaper=Aviation Week |date=July 10, 2012 }}

{{asof|2012|04}}, Colorado state law "grants limited liability to spaceflight companies, allowing spaceflight participants who sign waiver forms to sue only if they are injured or killed as a result of a firm’s 'willful or wanton disregard' for safety."

Spanish architect Luis Vidal produced an architectural concept for the new airport in 2013.

{{cite news |last=Hill|first=David |title=AIA 2013: America's Next Aviation Frontier |url=http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2013/06/130621-AIA-2013-Americas-Next-Aviation-Frontier.asp |accessdate=June 22, 2013 |newspaper=Architectural Record |date=June 21, 2013 }}

In December 2017, British aerospace company Reaction Engines began construction of a test facility at Colorado Air and Space Port for the development of its SABRE air-breathing rocket engine.{{cite press release | author= | title=Reaction Engines Begins Construction of High-Temperature Airflow Test Facility in Colorado | url=https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/reaction-engines-begins-construction-high-temperature-airflow-test-facility-colorado/ | location=Watkins, Colorado | publisher=Reaction Engines Limited | date=2017-12-18 | access-date=2018-01-09 | archive-date=January 10, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110114701/https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/reaction-engines-begins-construction-high-temperature-airflow-test-facility-colorado/ | url-status=dead }} By 2024 its operations ceased, but in 2025 Boom Technology announced it would move in to Reaction Engines' former space to develop and test its own supersonic jet engines.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-24 |title=Centennial-based Boom Technology chooses Adams County as test site for its supersonic jet engines |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2025/04/24/boom-technology-jet-engines-testing-colorado-air-space-port/ |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=The Denver Post |language=en-US}}

The spaceport designation was approved in 2018.

In December 2020, Japanese aerospace company PD AeroSpace signed an agreement with the Air and Space Port that paves the way toward test flights of high-altitude planes above the plains east of Aurora.{{Cite web|last1=Stringer|first1=Grant|last2=Writer|first2=Staff|date=2020-12-02|title=Japanese aerospace company makes partnership commitment to Colorado Air and Space Port|url=https://sentinelcolorado.com/news/japanese-aerospace-company-makes-partnership-commitment-to-colorado-air-and-space-port/|access-date=2020-12-03|website=Sentinel Colorado|language=en-US}}

In October 2022 plans for Port Colorado, an industrial mixed-use development spanning 6,500 acres adjacent to Colorado Air and Space Port, were reported.{{Cite web |title=Port Colorado aims to bring 6,500 acres of industrial, mixed-use development to Aurora |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2022/10/07/port-colorado-adams-county.html |access-date=2022-10-24 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}

File:Front Range Airport Colorado Terminal Exterior.jpg|Main offices and terminal at Colorado Air and Space Port

File:Front Range Airport Colorado Interior and Cafe.jpg|Interior view of the main offices and terminal facilities at Colorado Air and Space Port

File:Front Range Airport Colorado Airplane Maintenance.jpg|An aircraft getting stripped of paint in preparation for maintenance at Colorado Air and Space Port

File:Front Range Airport Colorado Entrance.jpg|A view of the entrance to Colorado Air and Space Port

File:Colorado Air & Space Port Control Tower.jpg|Colorado Air & Space ATC Control Tower KCFO, The Colorado Air and Space Port Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) is the tallest general aviation tower in the United States.

• List of airports in Colorado

• {{official website|https://coloradoairandspaceport.com/}}
• [http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/aeronautics/colorado-airport-system/ColoradoAirportMap/FTG Colorado Air and Space Port (CFO)] at Colorado DOT airport directory
• {{FAA-diagram|06851}}
• {{FAA-procedures|CFO}}

{{US-airport-ga|CFO|-}}

{{spaceport}}

Category:Airports in Colorado

Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Aurora, Colorado

Category:Buildings and structures in Adams County, Colorado