Just about every Coloradan, though, is familiar with the conspiracy theories, and knows that Blucifer is rearing back on his haunches, ready to gallop off at a moment's notice to fight whatever invading kaiju might show up to wreak havoc at a mile high. After all, with its sheer size and volume of passengers, there are new challenges daily at the airport (including whether to call it DEN or DIA for short; we stick with the old-school DIA).
To help face those challenges, here are ten resolutions the airport would be wise to make in 2025 — aside from keeping Blucifer on speed-dial.
Construction on the Great Hall is supposed to "end" in 2025...but not really, as the quotation marks suggest.
Let's start with the most obvious impediment to "enjoying the go," DIA style: the interminable work-in-progress that it's become. From the delayed day one of the airport's existence, it seems the place has been playing catch-up with itself. First the vaunted automated baggage system was a complete bust. Then the central fountain in the main hall presented issue after leaky issue that eventually culminated in its removal. Most recently, whoever holds the title of Vice President of Irritation and Annoyance in Travel at DIA decided that — you know what? We should switch floors for everything. That'll be awesome, right? Once this next "improvement" is finished, maybe DIA will finally get grounded.
Fill in the Dead Spaces
The terminals at DIA just keep expanding, but the amenities available at each spur are sometimes slow to embrace the added space. No one wants their airport — especially in the section where they have to sit for hours and wait to board —to look like a dying shopping mall.
Use the Damn Land
DIA isn't the biggest airport by structural footprint — only by the acres it's claimed as its own. Why so much of that land is sitting unused is a mystery. One thing people like about smaller airports is the ability to park easily (and cheaply!). Even a behemoth like DIA could do that with more cheap surface parking — with solar-roofed coverage, to take advantage of that legendary Colorado sunshine.
Incentivize More Local Restaurants to Establish Airport Outposts
Although we'll miss the soon-to-be-gone Steve's Snappin' Dogs, which already closed on Colfax Avenue, plenty of other local restaurants have been landing at Denver International Airport recently, with Marczyk Fine Foods, Aviano Coffee, Bar Dough, Mister Oso and ChoLon all joining the lineup late this year; D-Bar is coming soon. Convenient food options are always appreciated, and when they're local rather than chains? That's an idea that keeps taking off. Now if Hammond's Candies would just open a spot there...
Make the Westin a Destination
DIA is one of the few air hubs to boast a full-service hotel scant feet from its doors. But what's now just a convenience for those not wanting to set a wake-up ringer for two in the morning at their home in City Park just to make a 6 a.m. flight could be so much more. Consider it the airline club lounge that's available to anyone; make it swanky for the grownups, more fun for kids, or even both. And set up easy ordering connections between the hotel and those local restaurants making a go of it in the concourses, too.
More Power Outlets
It's 2025: Let's stop pretending that we all don't have something in our pocket that needs a charge. And not more of those pay-by-the-minute stations, either. Just an outlet in the seats or the wall or the tables — ones that work, thank you — so that we can top off our phones and pads and laptops and whatnot. The skies themselves are getting a little less friendly with each passing "let's-maximize-revenue" day, so at least let passengers start with a full charge for that flight where the wi-fi probably won't work.
Market Blucifer Better
Seriously, everyone loves that big blue evil horse (or loves to deride it, which is sort of the same thing). It's become not just emblematic of the airport, but of Colorado writ large. DIA should be capitalizing on that a heck of a lot more than it's currently doing, although we understand that the estate of creator Luis Jiménez doesn't take kindly to "Mustang" knockoffs. Still, making more merchandise scratch off what's become the most famous piece of art in Colorado could go a long way toward paying for some of the other improvements on this list.
Gondolas! Gondolas! Gondolas!
Somehow, when the airport was being built, the designers didn't think much about alternative ways to get between the far-flung concourses if the trains go down. Possible ways to connect concourses A, B and C include buses, a bridge...or a gondola system. Good gravy, go with the gondolas. They're more fun, would give DIA one more aspect to set it apart from other hubs of its size, and would give travelers headed to ski resorts some handy early education in proper boarding etiquette.
Fix Peña Boulevard
It might have made sense for the main traffic artery to and from the airport to have been a simple, two-lane blacktop when the airport was the only real reason to use that road. But now that the utterly unsurprising has come to pass — specifically, the city has crept ever closer to the airport 24 miles from downtown — the congestion is constant and brutal. There's lots that could be done here, from simple lane expansion to having an "airport-only" thoroughfare of some sort, but most drivers heading to DIA agree that something needs to be done, and fast.
Speaking of Distance...Maybe Move to Denver Proper?
Yes, we know that voters approved annexing the land used to build Denver International Airport into the Mile High City, but the flagpole annexation has always seemed a tenuous connection. And sort of disingenuous. The laws of time and space are notably immutable. If Denver annexed a small island near the Keys, would that make us part of Florida? (Talk about terrible neighbors.) At this point, DIA should probably be called "Green Valley Ranch International Airport," but that's a mouthful.
