Wednesday, October 28, 2026
One of the highest airports in the country is changing hands. Angel Fire Airport, sitting at 8,379.5 feet in the Moreno Valley just north of the village, with a single 8,900-foot asphalt runway, has long been owned by Colfax County. This month, county and village leaders took the formal steps to move it into the Village of Angel Fire's hands, a transfer village officials have been preparing as they plan the airport's next chapter.
The Colfax County Commission's October 13 agenda shows how much groundwork the transfer required. Commissioners took up a memorandum of understanding with the Village of Angel Fire on rural air service enhancement, a two-year extension of the county's air-service agreement, and Resolution No. 2026-81, approving the conveyance of the Angel Fire Airport property to the village by special warranty deed. In other words, the county did not just hand over the keys; it lined up the air-service arrangements and the legal transfer in the same meeting.
The Village Council followed on October 14 with the pieces a new owner needs. Airport Director Gilmer presented the Federal Aviation Administration capital-improvement plan for 2027 through 2031, explaining that filing it gives the village access to roughly 150,000 dollars a year in federal airport improvement funds and positions Angel Fire to apply for larger FAA and state grants to upgrade runways and taxiways. The plan also looks ahead to Part 139 standards, the federal certification that could support potential future scheduled service. Council approved the submission by roll call.
The council also authorized a request for proposals to recruit a fixed-base operator, the business that fuels planes, handles visiting aircraft, and gives pilots their first impression of Angel Fire, and it approved a hangar ground-lease template with 30-year terms at 0.35 dollars per square foot, giving hangar builders clear, long-term terms. One step remains: the county's special warranty deed transferring the airport is recorded pending approval from the state Department of Finance and Administration, so the handoff is in its final stage rather than fully closed.
The timing matters for visitors. Scheduled seasonal air service returned to Angel Fire in the winter of 2024-25, decades after Mesa Airlines flew a daily Albuquerque flight in the 1986-87 ski season, and the village now controls the funding plan, the operator search, and the hangars behind that service. If you are flying in or simply enjoying the valley this week, today is mostly sunny with a high near 57 and a low near 25, with dry weather holding through Saturday before a chance of rain and snow arrives Sunday.