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The Eagle County Regional Airport could see some flight delays in the coming weeks due to a change in its control tower management.

According to Eagle County Aviation Director David Reid, airport officials were notified in December that the Federal Aviation Administration had put out to bid the contract for operations at the airport’s control tower.

The tower had been operated for more than a decade by Serco. But effective Feb. 1, tower management will be taken over by Robinson Aviation, Inc. Reid noted that the county has no control over tower management.

The short timeline for the tower management change comes during the local airport’s busy season, so there are questions about how Robinson will staff the facility. Reid said he’d hoped that Robinson would use Serco’s people, but that isn’t happening.

If Robinson brings in new people, that means those people will have to find housing, of course. They’ll also have to be certified by the FAA to run operations at Eagle County.

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Reid said local officials have reached out to the FAA and the county’s congressional representatives for help.

If Robinson’s people aren’t available by Feb. 1, flight operations will be handled out of Denver at the control center that also handles traffic for Denver International Airport. That’s standard procedure at other regional airports without control towers. That includes Steamboat Springs.

Reid was quick to add that those airports all operate safely and effectively.

But, he noted, since those regional airports don’t have people on-site, there’s increased spacing between incoming and departing flights, which can lead to delays. That includes all traffic, including commercial, general aviation and military flights — primarily helicopters from the Colorado National Guard’s High Altitude Aviation Training Site — into and out of the airport.

“It’s safe,” Reid said, adding again that this is done around the country, but noting that it’s impossible to say what kind of delays people might experience.

“We can’t put a timeframe on it,” he said.

Until the tower is fully staffed again, “the airport will continue to operate safely and efficiently,” Reid said. “We’re working every way we can to get a different plan.”