The company tasked with completing construction on Copper Mountain Resort\u2019s new American Flyer chairlift said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that the lift will not be open by Christmas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some installation and inspection steps that still need to be completed,\u201d Rick Spear, the president of Leitner-Poma of America, said in a statement issued by Copper, \u201ctherefore the American Flyer lift will not be in operation this Tuesday as we had hoped. Every effort is being made to fully test and commission the lift so it can open safely in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spear also said in the statement that Leitner-Poma cannot commit to a specific date until \u201ccritical steps\u201d are completed. Spear added Leitner-Poma will provide an update once the company knows more.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Copper said it hoped the new American Flyer lift would be open by the holidays.<\/p>\n
The new American Flyer lift is a high-speed, six-person chair with bubble enclosures that should increase uphill capacity by 33 percent. The new Flyer lift and the resort\u2019s new American Eagle lift \u2014 which opened several weeks ago \u2014 are the first two lifts in North America to run on direct drives as opposed to a complex gear system.<\/p>\n