Boulder officials have hired consultant David Ruppel of Aviation Management Consulting Group as interim manager for the city’s municipal airport.
Ruppel is stepping into the role about a month after former airport manager John Kinney resigned. Kinney left in late October after more than three years with the city to take a new position as director of the Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Ruppel was most recently the interim director of the Northern Colorado Regional Airport, a position he left in July 2024. He also formerly served as airport manager at Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden, director of the Colorado Air and Space Port, and COO with the U.S. Navy in Atlanta. A city release said Ruppel has 15 years experience in managing general aviation, military and commercial airports, and he was once a naval aviator.
“With an active aviation community in Boulder, our staff has worked hard to ensure smooth airport operations during this transition,” City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said in the release. “Dave’s expertise will help us continue the specialized work of running an airport responsibly and safely while we continue searching for a long-term airport manager.”
Ruppel’s hiring comes near the end of a turbulent year for the airport. Earlier this year, debate over the future of Boulder’s municipal airport grew heated as a community group successfully campaigned to get a pair of ballot initiatives to close the airport and turn it into a residential neighborhood onto this fall’s ballot. The group withdrew the ballot measures in late August after Boulder officials filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration to clarify for how long the city will legally be required to keep its airport open.
Complaints about noise and possible lead pollution from the airport have grown louder in recent years. Housing advocates have called for repurposing the nearly 180 acres of airport land into housing to help alleviate the city’s housing shortage. But airport supporters see the airport as a resource and economic engine for the city that is too valuable to lose.
Starting this week, Ruppel will begin directing airport operations. Meanwhile, the city will continue to look for a permanent replacement.
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