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  September 2011

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Volume 3, Issue 9  

Icelandair To Begin Transatlantic Service from Denver in 2012
Icelandair, a commercial air carrier with 23 European destinations available through Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, will begin year-round, nonstop service between Denver and Reykjavik in May 2012.

The new service is expected to bring more than $28 million in annual economic impact to Colorado.

"I’m looking forward to the relationship between the City and County of Denver and Icelandair, and to personally welcoming the first flight from Reykjavik,” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. He added that the new nonstop service – available four times weekly – will “open our doors to new markets and allow our business and leisure travelers to enjoy an easy one-stop connection to Scandinavia, the U.K., and Europe.”

Icelandair is the first carrier that is new at DIA to initiate transatlantic service in the Denver market in more than 10 years.

An Icelandair Boeing 757-200 takes off from London Heathrow Airport. Photo by Adrian Pingstone.

“We were thrilled to choose Denver from a short-list of potential new gateway cities, as we feel it is a natural fit for Icelandair,” said Birkir Holm Gudnason, CEO of Icelandair. “Denverites will love the nature, lifestyle, and culture of Iceland, while Icelanders will feel at home with the landscape, active lifestyle, and independent philosophy in Denver.”

Beginning May 11, 2012, Icelandair will operate its four weekly flights to and from DIA using Boeing 757 aircraft. Regional passengers will be able to discover the wonders of Iceland – a spectacular landscape constantly changing through volcanic activity and, because of its northern latitude, a landscape that offers displays of aurorae borealis when solar activity is high.

From Icelandair’s Reykjavik hub at Keflavik International Airport, air travelers will have direct connections to Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Madrid, Oslo, Paris, and other European cities.

“Savvy travelers of Denver will now have a fresh alternative when traveling to Europe. Icelandair is happy to enter this city with competitive airfares and convenient routes to Iceland and onward,” said Thorsteinn Egilsson, general manager of Icelandair, the Americas.

On Sept. 14, 2011, Icelandair announced new nonstop service between Denver and Reykjavik.
At the lectern is Icelandair’s Thorsteinn Egilsson, general manager, the Americas. Also part of
the announcement ceremony were (left to right) DIA’s manager of Aviation, Kim Day, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, and Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. To the speaker’s left
were Icelandair CEO Birkir Holm Gudnason and Helgi Már Björgvinsson, senior vice president, marketing and sales.

Europe ranks as Denver’s largest international market, accounting for one-third of DIA’s international passengers who begin their trips here or fly here as their destination.

Even with daily flights to London (British Airways) and Frankfurt (Lufthansa Airlines), Denver has been underserved in transatlantic flights. This new air service is expected to bring nearly 300 jobs to Colorado, including 33 direct jobs, generating an estimated $9 million in wages and more than $19 million in tourism spending. Visit Denver, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, the State of Colorado, the Colorado Tourism Office, and Colorado Ski Country USA all have committed to support the new initiative through marketing dollars and other means.

The addition of Reykjavik will bring Denver’s nonstop international destination count to 20.

Sept. 11, 2001 – Escape from the North Tower
September 11, 2001, started out like any other weekday morning for Ken Greene, deputy manager of aviation, maintenance, at Denver International Airport, who, at the time, lived and worked in the New York City area. He walked to his train stop in Fairfield, Conn., that day, hopped on the 6:08 a.m. train and made his way into Manhattan to begin a normal Tuesday at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, located at the World Trade Center. Expecting meetings and the other trappings of a typical workday in his position as assistant director of aviation, he had no idea how drastically his day – and life as he knew it – would change.


DIA’s deputy manager of Maintenance, Ken Greene, worked in the north tower of New York’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He helped others evacuate after American Flight 11 hit the building, and he was almost killed when the south tower collapsed.

Ken was in a colleague’s office in the North Tower of the WTC when a commercial airplane slammed into the 110-floor building. He recalls hearing and feeling a massive explosion, the building swaying before steadying itself, and watching from a window as paper and debris fell from the sky above his 65th-floor office.

Ken immediately jumped into action, helping to evacuate his floor via a nearby, smoke-filled stairwell. As confused and frightened employees moved slowly down the narrow stairway, rumors that a large aircraft had hit the building began to circulate. Disbelief coursing through him, Ken remained calm and chose to believe that there was a logical, reasonable explanation for what he and his coworkers were experiencing.

“In my mind, it couldn’t have been an attack,” Ken says. “If it was a plane that had hit the building, it had to have been an accident. I was convinced that we would be back in the building the next day.”

But of course the building – and the United States – was under attack that morning. As Ken navigated through smoke and standing water, trying to make his way out of that stairwell, the World Trade Center’s South Tower was struck by a second passenger jet. Completely unaware of this, he and the other evacuees finally made it to the mezzanine lobby level of his building. They were met with a nightmarish scene, like something from a horror film. Fires burned on the plaza outside; blood, debris, and human remains littered the landscape; there was incredible chaos at every turn.

As Ken tried to help evacuate the plaza and restore order to the scene, the unthinkable happened: the South Tower collapsed, engulfing the lobby where he was standing in choking dust and complete darkness.

Resolved on surviving, Ken somehow managed to crawl the right way through the rubble, making it to safety and escaping the devastation before the second tower fell. Dazed and certainly in shock, he couldn’t comprehend what he had just been through or what was happening around him. It took the better part of the day for Ken to grasp that, in less than two hours’ time, four hijacked airplanes were intentionally crashed by terrorists on suicide missions, killing nearly 3,000 people, destroying New York’s iconic World Trade Center, severely damaging the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and forever altering American society.

In the days and weeks following the 9/11 tragedy, U.S. airport security protocols changed drastically. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was born and its Transportation Security Administration was established to create and oversee federal standards for airport and airline safety. New procedures for air travel were put in place, investments were made in security technology and infrastructure, and a workforce whose sole mission was to protect the traveling public was deployed.

Today, as a lucky survivor of the terrorist attacks, Ken has a unique understanding of the important role every airport employee plays in keeping the nation’s fifth-busiest airport safe. He oversees 500 employees in DIA’s Maintenance Division, a group responsible for maintaining all airport facilities, operating areas, fleet, and equipment. Working day and night with 24/7 unfettered access to the airfield, passenger areas, baggage and train tunnels, and every other imaginable area of the airport, the division’s employees are the eyes and ears of DIA.

Ten years after 9/11, Ken reflects on the changes he’s seen in the aviation industry. “There is a different mindset, a more vigilant mindset,” he says. “Not only is there more public and societal awareness of the need for heightened security but there’s also a more in-depth awareness on the part of all airport employees.”

10 Years Ago – Grounded

On Sept. 11, 2001, following the terrorist attacks, the FAA required all commercial aircraft flying in U.S. airspace or headed for the United States to land immediately at the nearest airport. Denver International Airport received many planes that were en route to other destinations. No commercial aircraft were allowed to take off for several days, and, as pictured above at DIA’s A Gates, aircraft were pushed back and parked away from buildings.

National Incident Management System
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States highlighted the need to focus on improving emergency management, incident response capabilities, and coordination processes across the country.

On Feb. 28, 2003, President George W. Bush issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5, “Management of Domestic Incidents,” which directed the secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer a National Incident Management System, or NIMS.

NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable federal, state, tribal, and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together to respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity. NIMS also can be a tool to prevent and protect against harmful incidents. This consistency provides the foundation for using NIMS for all incidents, ranging from daily occurrences to incidents requiring a coordinated federal response.

The Incident Command System was adopted as one important part of NIMS. As a system, ICS is extremely useful; it provides a uniform organizational structure for incident management, and it also guides the processes for planning, building, and adapting that structure. ICS is normally structured to coordinate activities for five major functions: command, operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration. Intelligence/investigations is an optional sixth functional area that can be activated on a case-by-case basis.

The airport’s Emergency Operations Center is the location from which DIA coordinates responses to incidents using the National Incident Management System.

Because Stapleton, and then Denver International Airport, already used ICS to some degree; airport staff had a head start when the federal government required DIA to use NIMS and ICS. As part of adopting NIMS requirements DIA has:

• Furthered participation by aviation divisions, drawing them into the ICS structure
• Implemented training requirements and record-keeping
• Started using consistent specific documentation required for incidents and events
• Become a more effective and responsive organization during incidents and events

DIA Aviation Operations Manager Bob Carsella recently completed the Colorado re-certification process to remain a type 3 incident commander through 2016. He also became a certified NIMS/ICS instructor for DIA in 2007, which has saved the airport money because it can offer incident command training on site.

“NIMS and ICS provide a platform of flexible management tools to help manage incidents and events of any size or complexity, from vehicle accidents on Peña Boulevard to major snowstorms,” said Carsella. “DIA has adopted and embraced NIMS and ICS – from senior leadership to frontline employees, making DIA reliable and predictable during incidents.”

DIA has used NIMS and ICS to manage the Democratic National Convention VIP guest and delegate influx in 2008, the Continental Flight 1404 plane incident in 2008, and flights from Japan carrying expatriates, government employees, and families of military personnel following the 2011 tsunami that struck northeast Japan.

The way DIA handled these occurrences, using NIMS and ICS, has distinguished it as a major airport with premier levels of response and service, especially during significant events.

To learn more about NIMS, you can watch a video presentation at the FEMA Web site: http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/AboutNIMS.shtm.

DIA Hosts Small-Business Outreach Event for Its Upcoming Construction Program
Last month on Aug. 3, the South Terminal Redevelopment Program hosted an outreach event for the local small-business community. About 150 people gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to meet, mix, and mingle with representatives from each of the three construction mangers/general contractors that will be performing work on DIA’s South Terminal Redevelopment Program: Kiewit, Mortenson, and South Terminal Expansion Partners. Participants learned about upcoming subcontracting opportunities in anticipation of the start of construction later this fall.

Two business owners who attended DIA’s South Terminal Redevelopment Program outreach event speak with Charles Maldonaldo (right), an airport representative, to learn about opportunities to work as subconsultants on the Program.

This was the first of several upcoming construction outreach efforts on behalf of the South Terminal Redevelopment Program. As DIA’s team prepares to break ground in the coming months, it will be actively engaging local small businesses and encouraging them to attend these events and take advantage of resources designed to help them work on the program.

Approximately 150 people attended DIA’s outreach session on Aug. 3, 2011. Participants learned about business opportunities available during construction of the airport’s South Terminal Redevelopment program.

Please check DIA’s business Web site, http://business.flydenver.com, for information on upcoming events.

DIA Partner Firms Honored
Two of DIA's partner firms currently working on the South Terminal Redevelopment Program were recently honored at the Minority Enterprise Development Week Annual Business Awards. LEI Companies, Inc., subcontractor to Kiewit Building Group on the WorldPort design-build, was awarded Construction Firm of the Year, and Parsons Transportation Group, program manager for the South Terminal Redevelopment Program, was selected as Corporation of the Year. Minority Enterprise Development Week is an annual initiative that comprises 14 partners representing the local minority business community. Each year, businesses are honored during the MED Week awards for their commitment to fostering the advancement and growth of minority- and women-owned firms in Colorado.

RTD Will Use Part of Its Federal Grant for DIA Commuter-Rail Line
The Regional Transportation District’s FasTracks project received a $1.03 billion grant from the federal government on Aug. 31, 2011. Part of the grant will be used for the East Rail Line, which will connect downtown Denver and Denver International Airport with commuter rail.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff traveled to the Denver metropolitan area to sign a check for the grant at a ceremony attended by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock, and other dignitaries from all levels of government, including the cities and counties that are part of the transportation district. The signing ceremony was followed by the groundbreaking for the FasTracks Gold Line at the site of the future Olde Town Arvada rail station.

Pictured is a mock-up of a commuter train car that will be used on the Union Station-to-Denver International Airport railroad line that is being built as part of RTD’s FasTracks project.

LaHood told the ceremony audience, “The citizens of Denver have made it clear they want transportation choices that reduce roadway congestion, promote cleaner air, and reduce our nation’s dependence on costly oil." He emphasized the project would create hundreds of jobs.

“As the population of the metro area continues to grow, transit will be even more important as communities plan for their future,” said Gov. Hickenlooper. “None of this would be possible without regional collaboration. Working together toward one vision has been key to FasTracks and is why we’re all here today.”

FasTracks is RTD’s voter-approved transit program to expand rail and bus service throughout the Denver metro area. Early construction work has already begun on the East Rail Line.

For more information on FasTracks and its transit projects visit: http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/ep3_2.

Airports Experimenting with ‘Virtual’ Customer Service
If you encounter a smiling, friendly customer service agent at Orly-Paris airport, or at Manchester or London Luton airports in England, pause before handing over your passport.

You could be passing documents to a holographic image and not a flesh-and-blood person – to a “virtual” gate agent, if you will.

Pictured is Manchester Airport’s Julie Capper, who works as a customer service agent. She poses alongside her own image, which appears within a hologram that becomes a “virtual” agent. The U.K.’s Manchester Airport is the first airport to use holograms of employees to interact with the traveling public.

Before passengers pass through security in Manchester Airport’s Terminal 1, they are met by John and Julie – recordings of actual customer service staff John Walsh and Julie Capper, who currently work as part of the customer service team at the U.K.’s largest regional airport.

The two-dimensional John and Julie are holographic images who speak to you and remind you about security requirements, such as the limitations on liquids in carry-on baggage. The virtual John and Julie are so lifelike that airport personnel say they have seen people try to hand them their passports.

At Luton, the holographic agents are Holly and Graham. The duo arrived at Luton a few days after Manchester installed its holographic agents at the end of January this year.

Orly started using the new holographic technology in July, presenting boarding agents who greet passengers and direct them to their departing gates. Orly’s two-dimensional agents seemingly materialize as if they were beamed in when a real agent presses a button to start aircraft boarding.

"I have to say it's strange to see yourself in virtual form and I'm hoping that I'll be able to rely on my virtual self to carry some of my workload,” said Manchester Airport’s Julie Capper. "I wonder if I can send it to meetings in my place and whether anyone will notice."

Achievement in Trade

The U.S. Department of Commerce presented its Certificate of Appreciation for Achievement in Trade to Denver International Airport on Aug. 23, 2011. The Commerce Department gave the certificate to DIA in recognition of the airport’s ongoing development of international air service to and from Denver and the business opportunities that can result from such service. Accepting the certificate were Sally Covington, deputy manager of Public Relations and Marketing (left) and Laura Jackson, director of air service development (right).

DIA sees a Drop in Cost per Enplaned Passenger in 2010
Cost per enplaned passenger is a term used to measure an airline’s average cost to process one departing passenger through an airport. This metric can include gate rental fees, fuel charges, baggage handling fees, etc.

The following chart shows DIA’s cost per enplanement since the airport opened. As a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and subsequent decline in flights and passengers, cost per enplanement at DEN increased in 2001. However, since 2002 costs are lower due to positive factors such as increased passenger traffic, flat debt service payments, and proactive efforts to diversify revenue sources at DIA.

2010 saw another decline in DIA’s CPE. As DIA moves forward with large construction and infrastructure projects, like the South Terminal Redevelopment Program and the possible addition of a new runway sometime in the future, it is important DIA’s CPE number remains low. With a low CPE number, DIA can compete with other top airports for new airline business and air service to new destinations.

It’s no Mirage – New Floor Design Replaces Fountain
The big, white construction walls that have been up in Jeppesen Terminal’s atrium for nearly a year are now gone.

Behind the walls, DEN removed Mountain Mirage, a public-art fountain by Doug Hollis, which was located in the center of the terminal, to prepare for expanding capacity for the airport’s people-mover train.

Jeppesen Terminal’s central atrium, where Doug Hollis’ Mountain Mirage fountain used to greet travelers arriving by air, now has new panels of terrazzo, designed by artists Jaune Quick-to-see Smith and Ken Iwamasa, who created the original floor. They added a design that evokes a Navajo woven rug.

After DIA removed the water feature, the vacated space had to be filled in with terrazzo to match the central atrium floor – also a public art piece. Artists Jaune Quick-to-see Smith and Ken Iwamasa, who planned the original floor, added a new design element – a nod to the Navajos’ designs for their woven rugs, with the symbols for mountain and river subtly referenced. The new section of floor flows perfectly with the original terrazzo floor.

DIA travelers now walk where the airport’s fountain used to be installed. The fountain, called Mountain Mirage, had to be decommissioned because the airport’s automated transit system is being expanded, and the fountain’s substructure inhibited this expansion.

Another art piece will be selected at some point in the future to permanently replace Mountain Mirage.

New Belgium Spoke Opens at A Gates

New Belgium Spoke, an all-purpose purveyor of items (both edible and non-edible) for the
traveler opened at the east end of A Gates (near Gate 61), where regional flights for
Great Lakes and Frontier airlines operate. New Belgium Spoke is a full-service bar and sells gourmet coffees and teas. It also offers fresh bakery items, including pastries and cookies. Sandwiches and snacks are available, and the new concession is a newsstand, selling
newspapers, magazines, paperback books, and essential travel-related sundries.

Denver and Colorado Creatively Attract New Tourists
Colorado’s natural beauty and majestic mountains have always attracted tourists, so it was vital to the state’s economy to construct the world-class Denver International Airport to keep up with the projected growth of tourism.

And, it’s a good thing Denver did build DIA, as Colorado’s cultural amenities also have become a significant driver of tourism in the state over the years; leading to record numbers in 2010 for both Denver and Colorado in total visitors, overnight visitation, tourism spending, and other tourism categories.

Cultural amenities fall under the economic sector of creative industries in Colorado, which constitutes the state’s fifth-largest employment cluster at more than 186,000 jobs.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has said, “There are tangible and intangible benefits of a strong creative sector, including providing unique cultural experiences for residents and tourists, enhancing Colorado’s brand, promoting neighborhood vibrancy, generating jobs, and attracting a talented workforce.”

To celebrate the importance of this sector for Colorado’s economy, DIA’s Art and Culture Program teamed with Arts and Venues Denver and Colorado Creative Industries to display the work of 28 Colorado design studios in a DIA exhibition called Design by Colorado.

The exhibition features some of Colorado’s leading designers in six categories: fashion, furniture, interior design, game/technology design, industrial/product design, and graphic design. Visitors will find a range of Colorado-designed items on display, including videos of popular mobile games, Boppy baby pillows, and even ski gear, such as fashionable goggles and custom-made skis.

Design by Colorado kicks off the 2012 Year of Design at DIA, in which the airport’s temporary exhibitions will feature design, connecting viewers to the creative industries sector, which provides jobs and fosters innovation and boasts of Colorado’s unique and creative enterprises.

“This sector is not only vital to our economy but also contributes to our culture and character as the creative capital of the Rocky Mountain West. Where better to showcase Denver’s talented creative sector to millions of tourists, business travelers, and residents than at DIA, the gateway to the region?” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock.

Design by Colorado will be on display in the Charles Ansbacher Hall, located in the passageway between Jeppesen Terminal and A Gates security screening until February 2012.

To read more about the exhibition and to see a complete list of artists and businesses featured in the exhibition, visit www.designbycolorado.net. To see a video about the project, follow the link to: http://vimeo.com/29107098. To learn more about DIA’s robust Arts and Culture Program, visit www.flydenver.com/art. 

Colorado Creative Industry Facts

• Constitutes the state’s fifth-largest employer
• Includes more than 186,000 jobs
• Accounts for $5 billion in employee earnings
• Puts Colorado fifth in the nation in concentration of creative industries
• Has enterprises well-distributed in communities across the state
• Is growing faster here than in other states
• Includes design, literary and publishing, and film and media businesses, which represent 73 percent of all creative industry jobs

Denver Creative Industry Facts

• Economic activity of $1.46 billion is generated by nonprofit arts and culture organizations
• The industry currently comprises 19,109 creative workers in Denver
• Between 2008 and 2009, Denver generated 1,000 new jobs linked to the creative economy, representing a 6-percent increase
• The city has 2,878 creative enterprises, accounting for 6.39 percent of its total businesses
• More than 100 galleries are in Denver
• Eight distinct arts districts can be found in the city
• Colorado’s capital boasts 160 performance venues of all sizes
• More than 180 film-related businesses are in Denver
  

City & County of Denver Department of Aviation
8500 Peña Boulevard | Denver, Colorado U.S.A. | 80249-6340

marketing@flydenver.com

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