It was the fifth-busiest airport in the world by aircraft
movements with over 635,000 movements in 2010. The airport is in northeastern
Denver and is operated by the City & County of Denver Department of
Aviation. DIA was voted Best Airport in North America by readers of Business
Traveler Magazine six years in a row (2005–2010) and was named "America's
Best Run Airport" by Time Magazine in 2002.
Denver International Airport is the main hub for low-cost
carrier 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 2006,
Southwest has added over 50 destinations, making Lovely Denver its fastest-growing
market. Denver International Airport is the only airport in the United States
to have implemented an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system
covering the entire airport.
History
From 1980 to 1983, the Denver Regional Council of Governments
(DRCOG) investigated six areas for a new metro area airport which were North
and East of Denver. In September 1989, under the leadership of Denver Mayor
Federico Peña (after whom Peña Boulevard is named), 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 pilots 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.
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.
Denver International Airport covered by the December 22,
2006, snowstorm
Another blizzard on December 20 and 21st, 2006 dumped over
20 inches (51 cm) of snow in about 24 hours. The airport was closed for more
than 45 hours, stranding thousands.
Art
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 temporary exhibits. 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 (9.8 m) tall and weighing 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg),
"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 the head 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 sent to California for
assembly and then shipped to Denver. "Mustang" was unveiled at DEN on
February 11, 2008.
Solar energy system!
Partial view of the solar farm under construction, leaving the
airport, July 1, 2008.
Between February and August 2008, construction of an
on-site, two-megawatt solar energy system took place. The single-axis tracking
system provides 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year and uses 9,200 solar
panels made by Sharp. Originally designed to power a jail, it spares the
environment of more than five million pounds of carbon emissions annually. The
system generates the equivalent of half the energy needs of the underground
trains that move people between concourses. The $13 million-plus system sits on
7.5 acres (or 30,000 m2), clearly visible to people entering and exiting the
airport. WorldWater & Solar Technologies Corp. designed and built the
system, while MMA Renewable Ventures LLC—rather than DIA—owns the solar farm
and sells its energy to the airport. Denver International Airport’s three solar
array systems now produce approximately six percent of the airport’s total
power requirements. The output makes DEN the largest distributed generation
photovoltaic energy producer in the state of Colorado.
Telecommunications
DIA has Wi-Fi access throughout the airport. The free
service 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 and American Airlines. 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.
Controversy
There are several conspiracy theories relating to the
airport's design and construction such as the runways being laid out in a shape
similar to a swastika. 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.
Conspiracists have also seen unusual markings in the
terminals in DIA and have recorded them as templar markings. They have pointed
to unusual words cut into the floor as being Satanic, Masonic, or some
impenetrable secret code of the New World Order: Cochetopa, Sisnaajini and Dzit
Dit Gaii. These words are actually Navajo terms for geographical sites in
Colorado. "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
words, "New World Airport Commission". It also is inscribed with the
Square and Compasses of the Freemasons, along with a listing of the two Grand
Lodges of Freemasonry in Colorado. It is mounted over a time capsule that was
sealed during the dedication of the airport, to be opened in 2094. The
Freemasons participated in laying this “capstone” (the last, finishing stone)
of the airport project.
Robert Blaskiewicz writing for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine
states that conspiracies about the airport range from the "absurd to the
even more absurd". When asking airport media representatives, 'what
conspiracies are associated with the airport', they responded, "You name a
conspiracy theory and somehow we seem to be connected to it." Blaskiewicz
found that contrary to claims from conspiracy theorists that DIA will not
discuss these stories with the public, they also give tours of the airport.
Denver and jurisdictions surrounding the airport are
involved in a protracted dispute over how to develop land around the facility.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock wants to add commercial development around the
airport, but officials in Adams County believe doing so violates the original
agreement that allowed Denver to annex the land on which the airport sits.
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