DIA's Jeppesen Terminal, looking west at sunset. DIA photo.

By Kevin Flynn
Inside-Lane.com

Denver International Airport can become a global hub, its manager said Thursday, in great part because the people who planned it made sure it had plenty of room to grow at lower cost than its competitors.

Kim Day, Aviation Manager at DIA, marked the airport’s 15th year in operation by giving a “State of DIA” address at a luncheon sponsored by the Metro Denver Economic Development Council in the downtown Sheraton Hotel.

“I’m convinced that DIA’s future is that of a powerful global hub,” she said.

You can read the prepared text of her remarks here.

“What are the future expectations?” she asked the luncheon crowd of several hundred people. “Thanks to the regional dreamers and the committed local residents who embraced the original vision, Denver International was and is considered the future of aviation in the United States. Even after 15 years of delivering on a promise, we are an airport with its potential still unfulfilled. Charles Dickens would say we still have great expectations.”

DIA already is the 10th busiest airport in the world but its international service is lagging. Day outlined five reasons she believes Denver will emerge in its second 15 years as a global hub.

Denver International Airport Manager Kim Day tells a luncheon crowd that her vision for DIA is a global hub. Inside Lane photo.

Second, the “visionary” leaders who planned the facility put it in the middle of 53 square miles of land, where it is easier to expand with fewer of the problems faced by most big cities’ cramped airports.

“Because we sit on 53 square miles, we have the ability to expand incrementally and affordably to meet future demand,” she said. “No other airport in the U.S. can do that – none. Most of them cannot expand affordably, and some of them simply cannot expand.”

Stapleton airport, which DIA replaced, took up just over seven square miles.

Third, Day said that DIA is working toward its goal of establishing non-stop flights to Tokyo, to open up Asian air travel markets from Denver. She emphasized Tokyo over Beijing, saying that the connecting flights all over Asia from Tokyo make it a better jumping-off point for Denver travelers headed to other Asian destinations.

“Beijing only brings Beijing, but with the Star Alliance hub network out of Tokyo – Tokyo gives us all of Asia. It is our gateway to Asia and we want to become their gateway to North America.”

Fourth, the rollout of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner series of jets – highly efficient mid-sized craft to carry 210 to 330 passengers, depending on the model and configuration, on long-range routes now flown by jumbo jets – will help make Denver more attractive to airlines flying the long distance to Asia with a full plane. It is just over 5,000 nautical miles from Denver to Tokyo, well within the 787’s range of up to 8,500 nautical miles.

“This aircraft will open the world to us,” Day said. “It is 20-percent more fuel efficient than current wide-body aircraft and its range and seat capacity are ideal for the Denver market. It is the plane that will make a Tokyo flight profitable.”

Finally, Day said, DIA’s commitment to passenger safety and security as it updates its 20-year-old master plan will make it a model facility for foreign travel.

“The travel experience can be burdensome and irritating, or it can be pleasurable and stimulating,” Day said. “We can provide what passengers want and need, or we can be complacent and uninspired. By offering the best customer service and by building loyalty among passengers I believe we can stand out among our competitors.”

Day noted that Denver’s airport fared rather well in the economic downturn compared with others, with air fares coming down in the last two years and a fraction of the passenger declines that many airports have experienced in the recession.

“Considering the turbulence of this past year, DIA has done quite well. While most major airports saw double-digit passenger declines, we experienced a minor 2.1 percent decline in passengers. Even with that, we served over 50 million passengers for the second consecutive year, and this January 2010 was our biggest January ever, exceeding January 2009 by 2.9 percent.”