Denver International Airport , often called DIA, is, by land size at , the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport and Montreal-Mirabel International Airport. Runway 16R/34L is the longest public use runway in the United States.

In 2008, Denver International Airport was the tenth busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic with 51,245,334 passengers. It was also the fifth busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements with 625,884 movements.

The airport is located in extreme northeastern Denver, Colorado, and is operated by the City and County of Denver. Denver International Airport is the busiest and largest airport in the United States without non-stop service to and from Asia, although the airport is actively seeking such flights. DIA was voted the 2005 Best Airport in North America by readers of Business Traveler Magazine and was named "America's Best Run Airport" by Time Magazine in 2002.

Airport officials say its large area contributes to it having the highest number of wildlife strikes in the United States (2,090 this decade - although it ranked seventh on basis of takeoffs and landings).

Denver International Airport is the main hub for low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and commuter carrier Great Lakes Airlines. It is also the second-largest hub for United Airlines (after Chicago's O'Hare International Airport), as well as a focus city for Southwest Airlines. Since commencing service to Denver in January 2006, Southwest has added over 30 destinations, making Denver its fastest-growing market.

Features

Aesthetics

The airport's distinctive white tensile architecture tension fabric roof is aesthetically designed to be reminiscent of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in winter. Steel cables similar to those on the Brooklyn Bridge support the roof. It is also known for a pedestrian bridge connecting the terminal to Concourse A that allows travelers to view planes taxiing directly underneath and provides sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains to the West and the high plains to the East.

Art

Mustang

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 lanes of Peña Boulevard. Jiménez died in 2006 while creating the sculpture when a portion of it fell on him and severed an artery in his leg. At the time of his death, Jiménez had completed painting the head of the mustang. The sculpture was completed with the help of the artist's staff, family, and professional race-car painters, Camillo Nuñez and Richard LaVato. Upon completion, the sculpture was assembled and shipped to its final destination from California. "Mustang" was unveiled in its completed form on February 11, 2008.

"Mustang" has received a mixed review from Colorado citizens. Many critics of the sculpture are attempting to have it removed, however the city plans to leave the installation in place for 5 years before making any decisions regarding its future. The controversy over the sculpture has received a great deal of media attention as well with coverage from the local news outlets to The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The Daily Show. A Facebook group entitled, "DIA's Heinous Blue Mustang Has Got To Go" has been created as a forum to express opinions about the sculpture.

Automated baggage system

The airport's computerized baggage system, which was supposed to reduce flight delays, shorten waiting times at luggage carousels, and save airlines in labor costs, turned into an unmitigated failure. An 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 in 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, at one time responsible for 90% of the baggage systems in the U.S., was acquired in 2002 by G&T Conveyor Company, Inc.

The automated baggage system never worked well, 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.

Solar energy system

In February 2008, construction of an on-site, two-megawatt solar energy system began. The single-axis tracking system should provide 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year and spare the environment of more than five million pounds of carbon emissions annually. The system will generate the equivalent of half the energy needs for the underground trains that move people between concourses. The $13 million-plus system sits on , clearly visible to people entering and exiting the airport. WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp. designed and is constructing the system, while MMA Renewable Ventures LLC - rather than DIA - will own it and sell its energy to the airport.

Telecommunications

DIA has public Wi-Fi access available throughout the airport as of late 2007. Although the service is marketed as being free, it is ad-supported through an advertising-filled HTML frame that is inserted into the top of the browser window. Users of the Wi-Fi network are also required to view a 30-second advertising video in the browser before Internet access is granted, although in many cases a click-through button is provided to avoid viewing the ad. The network is managed by FreeFi Networks, a Los Angeles-based firm.. T-Mobile HotSpot service is available in the airport lounges run by United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines .The airport has pay-per-use kiosks which can be used to access the Internet and to play video games. The current stations were developed by Zoox Stations and were installed in 2007.

Geography

airport is 25 miles (40 km) from downtown Denver, which is 19 miles (31 km) farther away than Stapleton International Airport, the airport it replaced. The distant location was chosen to avoid noise impacts to developed areas, to accommodate a generous runway layout that would not be compromised by winter storms, and to allow for future expansion. The of land occupied by the airport is nearly twice the land area of Manhattan. The land was transferred from Adams County to Denver after a 1989 vote, increasing the city's size by 50 percent. However, much of the city of Aurora is actually closer to the airport than the developed portions of Denver, and all freeway traffic accessing the airport from central Denver passes through Aurora.

History

In September 1989, under the leadership of Denver Mayor Federico Peña (after whom Peña Boulevard is named for), federal officials authorized the outlay of the first $60 million for the construction of DIA. Two years later, Mayor Wellington Webb inherited the megaproject, scheduled to open on October 29, 1993.

Delays caused by poor planning and repeated design changes due to changing requirements from United Airlines caused Mayor Webb to push opening day back, first to December 1993, then to March 1994. By September 1993, delays due to a millwright strike and other events meant opening day was pushed back again, to May 15, 1994.

In April 1994, the city invited reporters to observe the first test of the new automated baggage system. Reporters were treated to scenes of clothing and other personal effects scattered beneath the system's tracks, while the actuators that moved luggage from belt to belt would often toss the luggage right off the system instead. The mayor cancelled the planned May 15 opening. The baggage system continued to be a maintenance hassle and was finally terminated in September 2005 , with traditional baggage handlers manually handling cargo and passenger luggage.

On September 25, 1994, the airport hosted a fly-in that drew several hundred general aviation aircraft, providing pilot with a unique opportunity to operate in and out of the new airport, and to wander around on foot looking at the ground-side facilities—including the baggage system, which was still under testing. FAA controllers also took advantage of the event to test procedures, and to check for holes in radio coverage as planes taxied around and among the buildings.

DIA finally replaced Stapleton on February 28, 1995, 16 months behind schedule and at a cost of $4.8 billion, nearly $2 billion over budget. The construction employed 11,000 workers.United flight 1062 to Kansas City International Airport was the first to depart and United flight 1474 from Colorado Springs Airport was the first to arrive.

After the airport's runways were completed but before it opened, the airport used the codes . DIA later took over as its codes from Stapleton when the latter airport closed.

During the blizzard of March 17-19, 2003, heavy snow tore a hole in the terminal's white fabric roof. Over two feet of snow on the paved areas closed the airport (and its main access road, Peña Boulevard) for almost two days. Several thousand people were stranded at DIA.

In 2004, DIA was ranked first in major airports for on-time arrivals according to the FAA.

Another blizzard on December 20 and 21st, 2006 dumped over of snow in about 24 hours. The airport was closed for more than 45 hours, stranding thousands.

Design and expandability

Denver has traditionally been home to one of the busier airports in the nation because of its location. Many airlines including United Airlines, Continental Airlines, Western Airlines, TWA, the old Frontier Airlines and People Express were hubbed in Denver and there was also a significant Southwest Airlines operation at the old Stapleton International Airport. At times, Denver 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 Curt Fentress. Seized upon by then Mayor, Federico Pena, as the iconic form he was looking for -- "similar to the Sydney Opera house" -- DIA's design as well as its user-optimized curbside to airside navigation has won DIA global acclaim and propelled its designer, Fentress, to one of the foremost airport designers in the world. Fentress Architects is 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 , DIA is by far the largest land area commercial airport in the United States. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is a distant second at . The control tower is one of the tallest in North America. The airfield is arranged in a pinwheel formation around the midfield terminal and concourses. This layout allows independent flow of aircraft to and from each runway without any queuing or overlap with other runways. Additional runways can be added as needed, 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 (4,877 m). Compared to other DIA runways, the extra length allows fully loaded jumbo jets to take off in Denver's mile-high altitude during summer months, thereby providing unrestricted global access for any airline using DIA. The sixth runway can also accommodate the Airbus A380.

The midfield concourses allow passengers to be screened in a central location efficiently and then transported via a rail system to three different passenger concourses. Unlike Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport upon which the midfield design was based, Concourses B and C are not connected by any kind of walkway; they are only accessible via train.

The taxiways at Denver have been positioned so that each of the midfield concourses can expand significantly before reaching the taxiways. B Concourse, which is primarily used by United Airlines, is longer than the other two concourses, but all three concourses can be expanded as needed. Once this expansion is exhausted, space has been reserved for Concourses D and E.

All international flights requiring customs and immigration services currently fly into Concourse A. Currently eight gates are used for international flights. These north facing gates on Concourse A are equipped to divert incoming passengers to a hallway which connects to the upper level of the air bridge, and enters Customs and Immigration in the north side of the Main Terminal. These gates could also be easily modified to allow boarding on both the upper deck and the lower deck of larger planes such as the Airbus A380.

As part of the original design of the airport the city specified passenger "triggers" that would lead to a redevelopment of the master plan and new construction to make sure the airport is able to meet Denver's needs. The city hit the first trigger in 2008, and is currently revising the master plan. As part of that trigger, the airport announced selection of Parson's transportation group to design a new hotel, rail station and two bridges leading into the main terminal.. Santiago Calatrava has been selected as the architect for the project. In addition, before hitting the 60 million trigger, the airport is planning on constructing an additional runway, 20+ new gates on the existing concourses, two additional International Gates as well as improvements to the baggage system and passenger train.

Once fully built out, DIA should be able to handle 110 million passengers per year, up from 32 million at its opening.

Conspiracy theories

There are several conspiracy theories relating to the airport's design and construction. Murals painted in the baggage claim area have been claimed to contain themes referring to future military oppression and a one-world government. However, the artist, Leo Tanguma, said the murals, entitled "In Peace and Harmony With Nature" and "The Children of the World Dream of Peace," depict man-made environmental destruction and genocide along with humanity coming together to heal nature and live in peace. In the mid-1990s, Philip Schneider gave lectures about highly secretive government information concerning "deep underground military bases" that were constructed by the United States government, and said that one of these bases exists underneath the Denver International Airport. Author Alex Christopher claimed to have worked in the tunnels under the airport, and described what appeared to be vast holding areas for prisoners, strange nausea-inducing electromagnetic forces, and caverns big enough to drive trucks through, presumably to be filled with helpless political prisoners.

Conspiracists have pointed to unusual words cut into the floor as being Satanic, Masonic, or just some impenetrable secret code of the New World Order: Cochetopa, Sisnaajini, and the baffling Dzit Dit Gaii. These words are actually Navajo terms for geographical sites in Colorado. The words, Braaksma and Villarreal, are actually the names of Carolyn Braaksma and Mark Villarreal, artists who worked on the airport’s sculptures and paintings.

There is a dedication marker in the airport inscribed with the square and compasses of the Freemasons, along with listing the involvement of the two Grand Lodges of Freemasonry in Colorado, and mounted over a time capsule sealed during the dedication of the airport. The Freemasons participated in laying the “capstone” (the last, finishing stone) of the airport project. Conspiracists claim that this is a futuristic “keypad” with some unknown purpose. Scarier to them is the notation of an organization called the 'New World Airport Commission,' which sounds similar to New World Order. The New World Airport Commission was a group of local businesses that organized the opening ceremonies of the facility, and they chose the name because Denver was aiming to create a “new, world-class” city and airport.The blog, DIA Conspiracy Files , follows the various theories surrounding the airport.

Terminal and Concourses

Jeppesen Terminal

The Jeppesen Terminal, named after aviation safety pioneer Elrey Jeppesen, is the land side of the airport. Road traffic accesses the airport directly off of Peña Blvd which in turn is fed by Interstate 70 and E-470. Two covered and uncovered parking areas are directly attached to the terminal - three garages and an economy parking lot on the east side; and four garages and an economy lot on the west side.

The terminal is separated into west and east terminals for passenger drop off and pickup. Linked below is a map of the airlines associated with the terminals.

The central area of the airport houses two security screening areas as well as a large fountain and exits from the underground train system. The north side of the Jeppensen Terminal contains a third security screening area and a segregated immigration and customs area.

Passengers are routed first to the ticket gates for checking in. Since all gates at Denver are in the outlying concourses, passengers must pass through any one of the three separate security screening areas for admittance into the secure air side of the airport.

After leaving the main terminal via the train or pedestrian bridge, passengers can access 138 gates on 3 separate concourses (A, B, & C)

Stone used in the terminal walls was supplied by the Yule Marble Quarry, also used for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Lincoln Memorial.

Concourses

Denver International Airport has three midfield concourses, spaced far apart. Concourse A is accessible via a pedestrian bridge directly from the terminal building, as well as via the underground train system that services all three concourses. For access to Concourses B and C, passengers must utilize the underground train system. On one occasion the late 1990s, the train system encountered technical problems and shut down for several hours, creating a tremendous back-log of passengers in the Jeppesen Terminal since no pedestrian walkways exist between the terminal and the B and C Concourses. Since that day the airport's train system has continued to operate without any further major service interruption.

The concourses and main terminal have a similar layout to Atlanta's airport, except that Denver has no T gates directly attached to the terminal and the space between terminals at DIA is much wider than the space between the terminals in Atlanta. This allows for maximum operating efficiency as aircraft can be pushed away from their gate awaiting departure and other arriving and departing aircraft can still taxi through the alley behind them without delay.

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.

On December 14, 2006, The Denver Post reported that DIA is in the design phase of expanding Concourse C in the airport's "first major concourse expansion." At least eight new gates are planned for construction at the east end of Concourse C and the project has an estimated pricetag of approximately $160 million. If the project is given the green light to move past the design phase, construction on Concourse C is estimated to take 3 years and will allow primarily Southwest Airlines, but also other carriers, to increase flight schedules at one of the nation's fastest-growing airports.

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 two smaller concourses or fingers which are connected to Concourse B via two 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 a SkyWest operated inbound flight from Saskatoon which requires Customs support.

The Airport has also announced plans to revise the Airport Master Plan to account for changing circumstances since the airport opened. According to the December 14, 2006, Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News articles, plans being drafted could possibly include an extension of the Main terminal to the South. This change would increase the number of ticketing counters and would also include a rail station for the terminus of the FasTracks commuter rail line from Denver's Union Station.

Concourse A

Note: Concourse A handles all international arrivals at Denver (excluding airports with border preclearance) as well as certain departing flights:

Continental is set to move to Concourse B in early 2010.

Concourse A has 37 Gates: A24 - A68 with four international boarding gates, gate A37 is used for British Airways, A39 is used for Mexicana, and gates A41 & A43 are used for Air Canada and Lufthansa. Denver is one of the busiest airports worldwide with one of the fewest international operations.

Concourse B

Concourse B has 83 Gates: B15 - B39, B41 - B99

In November 2009, United and DIA reached an agreement in which United will release five of its gates in the western end of the concourse. DIA plans to lease these gates to United's Star Alliance partners US Airways and Continental Airlines, who both plan to move to Concourse B in early 2010.

Concourse C

Concourse C has 22 Gates: C28 - C50

The Mezzanine Level (Level 3) on Concourse C contains the least abundant set of services. The only service that the Concourse C Mezzanine provides is the American Airlines Admiral's Club.

US Airways plans to move to Concourse B in early 2010.

Concourses D and E

The airport has reserved room for two more Concourses to be built beyond Concourse C for future expandability. Concourse D can be built without having to move any existing structure. The underground train system, however, will have to be extended. Concourse E will require moving a United Airlines hangar. However, before construction on Concourses D and E begins, Concourses A, B, and C can be extended in both directions to contain 99 gates per concourse. This is evident from the fact that the gate number 40 was selected to be the median gate number at the middle of each concourse; theoretically, this allows for gates 1 through 40 to be located to the west, and gates 41 to 99 to be located to the east, of the passenger train system. Signs as one enters the mezzanine level indicate a separation of 1-40 on one side and 41-99 on the other.

Airlines and destinations

Denver International Airport is the home base of Frontier Airlines and the second-largest hub for United Airlines. The airport is also the main hub of Great Lakes Airlines. DIA was a hub for the now defunct Western Pacific Airlines and is also a growing focus city for Southwest Airlines.

The top airlines serving DIA are United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, controlling about 45.3% and 24.4% of all passenger traffic at DEN in December 2008, respectively. Southwest Airlines has continued to grow rapidly in Denver, accounting for 13.6% of the passenger traffic at DIA in December 2008.

United and Frontier serve multiple destinations in Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico, and foreign flag carriers Aeroméxico, Air Canada, British Airways, Lufthansa and Mexicana operate flights to their hubs.

Access

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) operates five bus routes under the frequent airport express bus service called skyRide, as well as one Express bus route and one Limited bus route, between DIA and various locations throughout the Denver-Aurora and Boulder metropolitan areas.

The skyRide services operate on comfortable coaches with ample space for luggage, while the Express and Limited bus routes operate on regular city transit buses and are mainly geared for use for airport employees.

Route	Title	Areas Served
skyRide
AA	Wagon Road / DIA	Westminster, Northglenn, Thornton, Commerce City
AB	Boulder / DIA	Boulder, Louisville, Superior, Broomfield, Westminster
AF	Cold Spring / Downtown / DIA	Lakewood, Downtown Denver (Market Street Station), Northeast Denver
AS	Stapleton / DIA	Northeast Denver
AT	Arapahoe County / DIA	Greenwood Village, Southeast Denver, Central Aurora
Limited
169L	Buckley / Tower / DIA	South and East Aurora, Northeast Denver
Express
145X	Brighton / DIA	Brighton

skyRide services drop-off and pick-up from both the West and East side of the Jeppesen Terminal while the Express and Limited services drop-off only on the West side of the Terminal and pick-up only from the East side of the Terminal.

By 2015, RTD plans to build a commuter rail line from downtown Denver's Union Station through Aurora to DIA, as part of the FasTracks expansion program. Scheduled bus service is also available to points such as Fort Collins, Colorado and van services stretch into Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado summer and ski resort areas. Amtrak offers a Fly-Rail plan for ticketing with United Airlines for trips into scenic areas in the Western U.S. via a Denver stopover.

Accidents and incidents

• On February 16, 2007, 14 aircraft suffered windshield failures within a three-and-a-half-hour period at the airport. A total of 26 windshields on these aircraft failed. The NTSB opened an investigation, determining that foreign object damage was the cause, possibly the sharp sand used earlier that winter for traction purposes combined with wind gusts of .

• On December 20, 2008, a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500 operating as Flight 1404 to Houston-Intercontinental Airport in Houston, TX overran runway 34R, and caught fire, during its takeoff roll at Denver International Airport. There was no snow or ice on the runway, however there were 31 knot (36 mph) crosswinds at the time of the accident. The NTSB has not discovered a reason for the crash. Of the 115 people on board, at least 38 sustained injuries: at least two of these injured critically.

• On October 15, 2009, northbound departures were rerouted to other runways when a balloon reported to be carrying a little child came into close proximity of the airport.

See also

• Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic
• Busiest airports in the United States by total passenger boardings
• List of airports in the Denver area
• List of the busiest airports in the United States
• World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
• World's busiest airports by traffic movements
• World's busiest airports by cargo traffic
• World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic

References

1. Coventry Airport News: Largest Airport
2. http://www.flydenver.com/pr/DIAPR_090204.pdf
3. Flights to Asia taking shape : Airlines & Aerospace : The Rocky Mountain News
4. Welcome to America's Best Run Airport
5. Bird strikes by planes rising - Denver Post - April 24, 2009
6. http://www.flydenver.com/guide/art/detail.asp?ID=3
7. http://www.denvergov.org/RecentInstallations/LuisJimenezMustangFebruary2008/tabid/428802/Default.aspx
8. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123395183452158089.html
9. http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=108711&catid=188
10. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43340404423
11. About DIA - Airport Services
12. Denver, CO - Wireless Hotspots
13. Distance from downtown Denver as per MapQuest
14. http://www.mt.net/~watcher/nwodnver.html
15. http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Denver_Airport.html
16. http://diaconspiracyfiles.wordpress.com
17. United Airlines - Denver International
18. http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_13715258
19. http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_13715258
20. http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_13715258
21. http://flydenver.com/diabiz/stats/traffic/reports/DEC_2008.pdf
22. " Denver crash victims arrive in Houston." MYSA. December 21, 2008. Retrieved on December 21, 2008.

External links

• Denver International Airport, official site
• Denver International Airport at Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)
• How Baggage Handling Works, from HowStuffWorks, describing DIA's automated system
• Johnson, Kirk. "And Behold a Big Blue Horse? Many in Denver Just Say Neigh," The New York Times, Monday, March 2, 2009.