Jackson Hole Airport Board Wins 2021 Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award Written 27 January 2021

Award recognizes the prioritization of sustainability at the airport to protect the environment

January 27, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates the Jackson Hole Airport Board as the 2021 winner of the Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award. The Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) is located in Jackson, Wyoming.

The Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award honors an individual or individuals judged to have contributed most significantly in recent years to the enhancement of relationships between airports and/or heliports and other surrounding environments via exemplary innovation that might be replicated elsewhere. The award is cosponsored by AIAA, the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and the Airport Consultants Council (ACC). For more information on the AIAA Honors and Awards Program, contact Patricia Carr at patriciac@aiaa.org. 

Jerry Blann, Jackson Hole Airport Board President, will accept the award during the virtual 2021 ACC/AAAE Airport Planning, Design and Construction Symposium on March 1, 2, and 4. Get more information on the virtual event, here.

The Jackson Hole Airport Board has worked tirelessly to implement numerous initiatives and programs to protect the natural environment, support passengers, staff, and the local community, and to employ resiliency in every aspect of their work. Highlights of their recent sustainability achievements include:

• Waste Diversion and Recycling. The Airport Board, in alignment with Teton County and Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), established an aggressive goal of diverting 60% of its waste from the landfill by 2030. In just over two years, the airport has more than doubled its waste diversion rate (from 18% to 38%).
• Air Quality and Emissions Reduction. The Airport Board has implemented multiple initiatives to reduce emissions, including receiving a grant from the Volkswagen Settlement grant program to replace an older piece of snow removal equipment with a cleaner burning unit. The Airport Board also joined the Good Traveler Program to provide carbon offset opportunities to Jackson passengers and to offset all Airport Board employee work-related travel, along with all work commuting miles for Airport Board employees. To date the airport has offset 1,183 metric tons of carbon. 
• Water Quality. The airport worked with consultants and stakeholders to construct a state-of-the-art fuel and glycol facility with above ground, double-walled tanks and a containment system to protect water quality. The Board approved the installation of an airport-wide underground stormwater detention and filtration system, which allows all stormwater to be filtered prior to leaving the property, thus protecting the Class I watershed that exists in Jackson. 
• Wildlife. The airport coordinated with GTNP to develop a Greater Sage-Grouse Habitat Restoration Plan that identifies strategies to protect both birds and aircraft. 

Award Cosponsors

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, RebeccaG@AIAA.org, 804.397.5270

About AIAA 
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.