United

United's expansion
DIA plan will effect service to Southwest Colorado

July 14, 2001

United Airlines is planning a $300 million expansion of its facilities at Denver International Airport. The change is bound to affect Southwest Colorado.

For starters, passengers continuing on from Denver will almost certainly have more difficulty making connections. Then again, the new facility will probably mean that we will, in time, be served by better, bigger airplanes. A side effect of that, however, will be to accelerate the process of making Durango our de-facto regional airport.

United wants to build more gates on the east end of DIA’s Concourse A to accommodate the smaller planes that fly to outlying areas. That should ease delays caused when aircraft have to wait for an open gate – and make it that much harder to move quickly between the commuter terminal and the bulk of United’s gates in Concourse B.

The terminal itself should be more pleasant. United now shuffles passengers on United Express commuter flights through a makeshift facility tacked onto the east end of Concourse B. The effect is to accentuate the second-class status United accords the hinterlands.

What United envisions, however, is a regional jet facility, and that is where the real changes arise. The airline industry is scrambling to adopt new planes like Bombardier’s CRJ, a 50- to 70-passenger jet intended to serve smaller markets with the speed and comfort of jets.

Nothing, however, is that simple. The CRJ– it stands for Canadair Regional Jet – actually has a higher "seat per mile" cost than either a large airliner or the smaller turboprops. Its efficiency lies in serving areas where the traffic does not justify a big jet, but the distance is greater than the useful range of smaller turboprops. From here to Los Angeles or Dallas would be just about right. On a run to Denver turboprops are more efficient.

Nonetheless, the flying public abhors propellers, and that argues strongly for all-jet fleets. Were that to happen, though, it would mean more than just new planes. In the Four Corners, only Durango has the traffic and the runway to accommodate the jets.

If America West goes all-jet as well, the effect would be to make Durango our regional airport. That could mean better service and more frequent flights, but it would also mean longer drives for travelers from Cortez and Farmington.

That may be for the best, but it would be better if we have a choice in the matter.