Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport (DEN) is located 23 miles Northeast of downtown Denver Colorado. At 53 square miles it is the largest airport in the United States and the second largest airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport. Denver is also known for having one of the longest runways in the United States at 16,000 feet. DIA was built to replace the old an outdated Stapleton International Airport which was Colorado’s primary airport from 1929 to 1995.
In September 1989, under the leadership of Denver Mayor, Federal Aviation officials authorized the outlay of the first $60 million for the construction of DIA. Two years later, Mayor Wellington Webb inherited the multi billion-dollar over budget megaproject, scheduled to open on October 29, 1993. Delays caused by poor planning and repeated design changes pushed the opening day back, first to December 1993, then to March and finally to May 15, 1994. In April 1994, the city invited reporters to observe the first test of the new automated baggage system. Reporters ended up watching clothing articles and personal items scattered all over the floor. The mayor cancelled the planned May 15 opening.
The airport collects landing fees, rent and other revenues from the airlines to help offset its operating costs. Denver International Airport is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver, but does not operate using tax dollars. Instead, the airport is an "enterprise fund" generating its own revenues in order to cover operating expenses. The airport operates off of revenue generated by the airlines – landing fees, rents and other payments – and revenues generated by non-airline resources – parking, concessions revenues, rent and other payments.

Denver has traditionally been home to one of the busier airports in the nation because of its location. Denver International Airport is the main hub for Frontier Airlines and commuter carrier Great Lakes Airlines. It is also the fourth-largest hub for United Airlines. The airport is a focus city for Southwest Airlines. Since commencing service to Denver in January 2008, Southwest has added over 40 destinations, making Denver its fastest-growing market. At times, Colorado was a hub for three or four airlines. Gate space was severely limited at Stapleton, and the runways at the old Stapleton were unable to deal efficiently with Denver's weather and wind patterns, causing nationwide travel disruption. These problems were the main justification for the new airport.
The project began with Perez Architects and was completed by Fentress Bradburn Architects of Denver. The signature DIA profile, suggestive of the snow capped Rocky Mountains, was first hand sketched by Design Director Curtis W. Fentress, one of the foremost airport designers in the world currently at work on the modernization of LAX. With the construction of DIA, Denver was determined to build an airport that could be easily expanded over the next 50 years to eliminate many of the problems that had plagued Stapleton International Airport. This was achieved by designing an easily expandable midfield terminal and concourses, creating one of the most efficient airfields in the world.
At 33,457 acres DIA is by far the largest land area commercial airport in the United States. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is a distant second at 18,100 acres. The 327-foot control tower is one of the tallest in North America. The airfield is arranged in a pinwheel formation around the midfield terminal and concourses and between each runway without any overlap with other runways. Additional runways will be able to be added, up to a maximum of 12 runways. Denver currently has four north/south runways (35/17 Left and Right; 34/16 Left and Right) and two east/west runways (7/25 and 8/26).
DIA's sixth runway (16R/34L) is the longest commercial precision-instrument runway in North America with a length of 16,000 feet. Compared to other DIA runways, the extra 4,000-foot length allows fully loaded jumbo jets such as the Boeing 747 or Airbus 380 to take off in Denver's mile-high altitude during summer months, thus providing unrestricted access for any airline using DIA.
Both during construction and after its opening Denver International Airport has set aside a portion of its construction and operation budgets for art. Gargoyles hiding in suitcases are present above the exit doors from baggage claim. The corridor from the Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse A usually contains additional artwork. Finally a number of different public art works are present in the underground train that links the main terminal with the concourses.
Mustang, by New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez, was one of the earliest public art commissions for Denver International Airport in 1993. Standing at 32 feet tall and weighing 9,000 pounds. "Mustang" is a blue cast-fiberglass sculpture with red shining eyes located between the inbound and outbound lane to the entrance of the airport(Simon).
"Mustang" has gotten mixed reviews. Many people are attempting to have it removed, but the city has planned to leave it in place for another 5 years before deciding. The controversy over the sculpture has received huge amounts of media coverage from the local news and is constantly being associated with several conspiracy theories relating to the airport's design and construction(Simon). On the surface, Denver International Airport seems like any other modern airport. It's new, it's clean, it's big, and it's modern. But some investigators have found more to it than meets the eye. Much more. Claims abound that Denver International was designed and built by the Illuminati as the headquarters for the global genocide that will trigger the New World Order.
Recently their has been talk about a new $500 million dollar terminal next to the Jeppesen terminal and will house a railway station, a 500-room hotel that can create over 6,600 jobs that will be completed on 2016. The rail link will provide a direct linkage between downtown Denver and the airport at a cost of over $1 billion. Before hitting the 60 million-passenger volume trigger, the airport is planning on constructing 20 plus new gates on the existing concourses, as well as improvements to the baggage system and passenger train. Once fully built, DIA should be able to handle 110 million passengers per year. The design concept of the South Terminal was envisioned by architect Santiago Calatrava. Calatrava claims that the South Terminal Redevelopment Program was inspired by an eagle flying, and will keep the Jeppesen terminal a visible icon.
Concourse B also recently expanded with the addition of a regional jet terminal at the east side of Concourse B. This Regional Jet concourse consists of one smaller concourse or finger, which is connected to Concourse B a bridges. These gates allow direct jet bridge access to smaller Regional Jets. With the opening of the Regional Jet Concourse, United Airlines has left Concourse A entirely and now operates solely from Concourse B, with the exception of international flights requiring customs support.
In 2010 Denver International was ranked fifth in busiest airports by movement with a total of 630,000 takeoffs and landings. Being ranked fifth for the past 3 years in a row, Denver has managed to increase their numbers by 3 percent every year. Financial records state that in 2010 enplaned passengers was up 2.4 percent totaling 26,134,000 million. 44 percent of the major airlines traffic was from United Airlines. Unlike Passenger enplanements, Denver is not famous for their cargo numbers so to speak. With only 108,000 tons compared to Memphis Tennessee hovering at 4 million tons in 2010. Part of this problem could be held responsible by the airport's computerized baggage system. This system was supposed to reduce delays, shorten waiting times at luggage pickup, and cut airline labor costs, was an unmitigated failure. An airport opening originally scheduled for October 31, 1993, with a single system for all three concourses turned into a February 28, 1995, opening with separate systems for each concourse, with varying degrees of automation.
The system's $186 million original construction costs grew by $1 million per day during months of modifications and repairs. Incoming flights on the airport's B Concourse made very limited use of the system, and only United, DIA's dominant airline, used it for outgoing flights. The 40-year-old company responsible for the design of the automated system, BAE Automated Systems of Carrollton, Texas, was at one time responsible for 90% of the baggage systems in the United States. The automated baggage system never worked as designed, and in August 2005 it became public knowledge that United would abandon the system, a decision that would save them $1 million per month in maintenance costs. References:
Simon, S. (2007, February 07). Horse of a different color. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123395183452158089.html

Denver International Airport: Information on Selected Financial Issues General Accounting Office (Letter Report, 09/18/95, GAO/AIMD-95-230)

Denver Airport: Operating Results and Financial Risks General Accounting Office, (Letter Report, 02/09/96, GAO/AIMD-96-27)

http://business.flydenver.com/stats/traffic/reports/DEC_2010.pdf http://business.flydenver.com/stats/financials/reports/2010_finrpt.pdf http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/the_denver_international_airport_conspiracy/
http://www.colorado.edu/libraries/govpubs/dia.htm