PROJECT INITIATION TEMPLATE

WHAT IS THE PROJECT?

DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT?

Denver International Airport is an international airport

serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, United States.
At 33,531 acres (13,570 ha, 52.4 sq. mi), it is the largest
airport in the United States by total land area. Runway
16R/34L, with a length of 16,000 feet (4,877 m), is the
longest public use runway in the United States. Denver
currently has non-stop service to 205 destinations
throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and
Asia. It is the fourth airport in the United States to
reach the 200 marker.
It also has the largest domestic network of any airport
in the country with flights to around 185 U.S.
destinations. As of 2017, DIA was the 20th busiest
airport in the world and the fifth busiest in the United
States by passenger traffic handling 61,379,396
passengers. The airport is a hub for Frontier Airlines,
United Airlines and a focus city for Southwest Airlines.
These three airlines' combined operations made up
about 83% of the total passenger traffic at DIA as of
December 2017.
WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT?

How does one convert a $1.2 billion project into a $5.0

billion project? It’s easy. Just build a new airport in
Denver. The decision to replace Denver’s Stapleton
Airport with Denver International Airport (DIA) was
made by well-intentioned city officials. The city of
Denver would need a new airport eventually, and it
seemed like the right time to build an airport that
would satisfy Denver’s needs for at least fifty to sixty
years. DIA could become the benchmark for other
airports to follow.
A summary of the critical events is listed below:
1985: Denver Mayor Federico Pena and Adams County
officials agree to build a replacement for Stapleton
International Airport. Project estimate: $1.2 billion
1986: Peat Marwick, a consulting firm, is hired to perform a
feasibility study including projected traffic. Their results
indicate that, depending on the season, as many as 50
percent of the passengers would change planes. The new
airport would have to handle this smoothly. United and
Continental object to the idea of building a new airport,
fearing the added cost burden.
 May 1989: Denver voters pass an airport referendum.
Project estimate: $1.7 billion 
March 1993: Denver Mayor Wellington Webb
announces the first delay. Opening day would be
postponed from October, 1993 to December 1993.
(Federico Pena becomes Secretary of Transportation
under Clinton). Project estimate: $2.7 billion
 May 1994: Airport misses the fourth deadline.
August 1994: DIA finances a backup baggage handling
system. Opening day is delayed indefinitely. Project
estimate: $4 billion plus.
December 1994: Denver announces that DIA was built
on top of an old Native American burial ground. An
agreement is reached to lift the curse.
 October 1993: Opening day is to be delayed to March
1994. There are problems with the fire and security
systems in addition to the inoperable baggage handling
system. Project estimate: $3.1 billion
December 1993: The airport is ready to open, but
without an operational baggage handling system.
Another delay is announced.
February 1994: Opening day is to be delayed to May 15,
1994 because of baggage handling system.
WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE
PROJECT?
• Continues noise monitoring and limits on business
which are in direct competition with the existing
business in Adams County.
• Prohibiting residential development within 60 LDN
noise level.
• Translucent tent-like roof for the Airport.
• Runway/taxiway lighting system.
• All three concourses to provide 70 airline gates and 18
commuter gates.
• Fully automated baggage handling system
WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC PROJECT OBJECTIVES?

Project Scope, the work that needs to be accomplished

to deliver a product, Service, or result with the
specified features and functions. Going by this
definition the scope of DIA has been changed seven
times thereby extending the deadline of the project.
Objectives:
• Having an airfield configuration which will be better than the
Stapleton. The airfield will be capable of better security and three
airplanes to land at the same time (Khadilkar and Balakrishnan
2013).
• The efficiency of the operations in the regional space can be
improved.
• Minimizing the passenger walking distance as much as possible
(Ashford, Coutu and Beasley 2013).
• Because of that, a more sufficient terminal layout will be
implemented.
• More efficient international facilities will be included in the airport.
WHAT ARE THE DELIVERABLES OF THE
PROJECT?
• Building a world class international airport for Denver City.
• Ten 12,000 runways and two 16,000 foot runway.
• 327 foot FAA air traffic control and a base building structure.
• Runway/taxiway lighting system.
• Creation of a buffer zone to protect surrounding residents.
• Building three concourses with 72 airline gates and 18
commuter gates.
• DCV baggage handling system for the entire airport.
WHAT (IF ANY) ARE THE MAJOR ISSUES OF THE PROJECT?

Construction began in 1989 without a signed

agreement from Continental and United. By March
1991, the bidding process was in full swing for the main
terminal, concourses, and tunnel. Preliminary risk
analysis involved three areas: cost, human resources,
and weather.
Cost: The grading of the terminal area was completed
at about $5 million under budget and the grading of the
first runway was completed at about $1.8 million under
budget. This led management to believe that the
original construction cost estimates were accurate.
Also, many of the construction bids being received
were below the city’s own estimates.
Human resources: The economic recession hit Denver a
lot harder than the rest of the nation. DIA was at that
time employing about 500 construction workers. By
late 1992, it was anticipated that 6,000 construction
workers would be needed. Although more than 3,000
applications were on file, there remained the question
of available, qualified labor. If the recession were to be
prolonged, then the lack of qualified suppliers could be
an issue as well.
Bad weather: Bad weather, particularly in the winter,
was considered as the greatest risk to the schedule.
Fortunately, the winters of 1989–1990 and 1990–1991
were relatively mild, which gave promise to future mild
winters. Actually, more time was lost due to bad
weather in the summer of 1990 than in either of the
two previous winters.
As the project made way, there were factors that were over
looked. One was the fact that there was no backup system.
The planners failed to provide transportation between the
check-in facilities and the aircraft. The initial problems
began when the automated baggage handling system was
left till 2 years before the airport was due to open This put 2
constraints on the design of the baggage handling system
First, it would have to fit inside the constraints of the
passenger terminal and the shape of this was very
inconvenient. Second, since the time it had to be designed
was 21 months, this cut out time to test the final system.
The next major problem was the inability of the system
to achieve reliable delivery times. To guarantee this it is
crucial to control the capacity of the system so that all
lines of low have balanced service which would be line
balancing. The management team failed to redefine the
system implementation in relation to its new context.
They failed to link in interconnected knowledge base
and enterprise required for the implementation and to
ensure the consistency and transparency between
technology and the context (Montealegre, 1996).
Cars propelled by linear induction motors: Fast,
straight-ahead travel is no problem. Problems develop
when stops, slowdowns and plenty of curves, inclines
and declines appear.
Bar code scanning and radio frequency identification:
Handling off information from bar code scanners to a
radio frequency identification system has been a
proven technique in industrial material handling
system. But, it has never been tried in such a high
speed baggage handling system.
Empty cart management software: The DIA car-on-
track system is a high-risk automation approach in
which the whole system must respond in real time to
an incredible number of questions and commands
generated by the empty cart management software.
WHAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT?

• Over 17 miles of track

• 5.5 miles of conveyors
• 4000 telecarts
• 5000 electric motors
• 2700 photocells
• 59 laser bar code reader arrays
• 311 radio frequency readers
• Over 150 computers, workstations and
communication servers.
WHO ARE THE KEY STAKEHOLDERS?

• Adams County: – Adam County is interested in DIA because

it is being constructed in their area. Their objective is to
ensure the interests and safety of people living in its area.
This is being done by creating buffer zones, keeping the
noise pollution down and the limits on new business
opening as a consequence of DIA’s construction. 
• New Orleans-based architectural firm:- One of the
contractors of DIA. Their objectives are:- Creating standards
for the unification of the airport and taking the design of
main terminal through design development and
schematics.
• BAE:- One of the contractors for DIA. Their objectives
are to design and build the baggage handling system
within two years.

• U.S. West Communication Services: – Is one of the

contractors in the DIA project. They are responsible
for the telephone services of DIA.