DIA Takes Off After Overcoming Previous Glitches
<H1>DIA Takes Off After Overcoming Previous Glitches</H1><H2>Smoother sailing: Delays have been cut by more than 80 percent</H2><H3>By Rowland Stiteler</H3><I>Denver </I>- The nation's newest large-scale airport, once beset by a host of problems including cost overruns, construction delays and a flawed baggage-handling system, has soared above most of its hurdles. In fact, Denver International Airport has set new records, both for the fewest delays and the largest monthly passenger count in Denver aviation history.
DIA, which marked its first anniversary on Feb. 28, has cut its rate of air traffic delays by more than 80 percent since it opened, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. In December, traditionally a tough air-traffic month because of snowfall in the Mile High City, DIA had a perfect record-no traffic delays caused by airport systems or personnel.
DIA's record compares with a December monthly average of 1,100 delays during the last seven years of operation at Stapleton International Airport, which the new facility replaced. The FAA, which has called DIA "the most technologically advanced airport in the world," attributed the radical drop in delays to the big airport's size and high-tech operating systems.
The FAA's computation of air traffic delays includes only those that an airport would have control over, and does not include delays caused by aircraft mechanical problems, waits for connecting passengers or de-icing slowdowns. Even with those qualifications, however, FAA officials said DIA has posted a significant gain over the delay rate at Stapleton. In the first 11 months of operation, DIA experienced 1,335 delays, compared with 6,920 during the past 11 months of operation at the old airport. February also saw measurable growth in passenger confidence; counts were up over the same month of the previous year for the first time in 14 straight months. The February passenger count at DIA was about 2.5 million, up 7.8 percent from the passenger count in February 1995, Stapleton's last month of operation.
DIA administrator Jim DeLong expects passenger counts to continue to go up as "airlines and passengers become convinced of the new airport's efficiencies."
DIA's passenger gains come in the face of something Stapleton never had to contend with-major competition. Just about the time DIA opened, a new carrier, Western Pacific Airlines, opened with a build-a-better-mousetrap plan, serving the Denver metro area out of nearby Colorado Springs airport (<I>BTN</I>, Oct. 23, 1995).
The Western Pacific game plan has been to avoid the landing fee increases assessed when the $4.2 billion Denver airport opened, and to pass the savings on to customers with discount ticket prices. Western Pacific, which has expanded its route system half a dozen times in its first year, now serves 19 cities and is growing exponentially.
As a result of Western Pacific's success, the Colorado Springs airport has grown beyond its planners' wildest expectations. In February, for instance, the airport handled about 165,000 passengers more than three times what it handled last February. Western Pacific's cut rates forced other carriers that fly out of Colorado Springs to cut their prices as well, and air travel on those carriers increased after the price cuts.
But the roughly 3 million passengers a year that use Colorado Springs represent about what DIA handles in a good month, and officials of both the DIA and the city of Denver say they are confident that passenger volume will grow quickly now that most of the airport's technological problems appear to be worked out.
One notable problem that has not been solved, however, is the operation of the high-tech baggage-handling system. United Airlines, the biggest carrier at DIA, recently filed suit against the builder of the baggage system, BAE Automated Systems. In the suit, filed March 18, United said the BAE system mishandles about 500 bags a day, sending them to a lost-baggage unit. BAE has filed a countersuit, saying United has withheld its $17.5 million final payment for its baggage-handling system.
The much-publicized baggage system problems, however, haven't kept new carriers from coming to DIA. On April 1, Nevada-based Reno Air announced plans to begin operations at DIA, giving the big airport three discount carriers, including Frontier and Vanguard. And ironically, Western Pacific, which based its initial marketing plan on avoiding DIA, confirmed that airline officials had been talking to Denver airport officials about leasing space there.