Pat Abeln, former director of El Paso airport, to fill vacant Commissioners Court seat

Patrick “Pat” Abeln will fill the vacant El Paso Commissioners Court Precinct 4 seat, according to a tweet by County Judge Veronica Escobar Monday afternoon.

The commissioner’s seat was left vacant with the death of Dan Haggerty in late June due to cancer. Haggerty served on Commissioners Court since 1995.

Escobar said at a news conference Monday afternoon that Abeln is apolitical and has no desire to run for office. The other members of Commissioners Court also attended the news conference.

Abeln was sworn in by Judge Ana Perez in the middle of the news conference.

Abeln retired from being the director of aviation at the El Paso International Airport in March 2009 after 10 years at the helm and more than $123 million of development at the airport.

Abeln flew into El Paso from Tucson in 1999, where he’d been chief administrative officer of the Tucson airport. Back in 1974, armed with a BA in history from the University of Arizona, he went to work at the airport as a night supervisor. The next year, he earned a master’s in public administration from the University of Arizona, and over the next 25 years moved up in the business of airline and airport management.

Airport Revenue News (ARN) named Abeln as its Best Director of the Year in the Small Airports division in 2007.

Abeln said a prostate cancer diagnosis he received in 2008 contributed to his decision to retire. He said on Monday that the cancer is in remission.