DIA’s Rocky Mountain USO
Providing Serenity for Service Members
Imagine traveling home to see your family for the first time in over a year, jumping from plane to plane, with sand in your hair, pockets, and boots – functioning without any sleep. Members of our military return to the United States from active duty in this condition every day. But they have a haven at Denver International Airport.

The Rocky Mountain USO provides an escape from all the stress, excitement, and anticipation that often is part of traveling to and from active duty. As one U.S. Air Force member said, “This relaxing atmosphere is exactly what I need right now. It feels good to put my feet up and enjoy some much-needed rest.”

For more than 68 years the United Service Organization – a congressionally chartered, private nonprofit organization – has supported the patriots of our military and their families around the world at military bases, family and community centers, and U.S. airports.

When active-duty military, reserve and National Guard personnel, retirees, and their family members travel through DIA, the RMUSO provides high-class services to ensure they are comfortable while at the airport.

Military visitors relax at and enjoy the Rocky Mountain USO at DIA’s A Gates

Located on A Gates Level 4, in the central core (next to the President’s Club), the RMUSO is open every day from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with the help of the USO World staff and more than 200 volunteers.

The RMUSO offers a café with free food and drinks, big-screen televisions with movies and video games, and quiet areas for sleeping or reading. A children’s area has games, a television, and movies donated by Disney. Service personnel can also take advantage of free international and domestic telephone cards, plus accessibility to showers and toiletries.

For additional information regarding the RMUSO, contact the director of the Rocky Mountain USO center, Hedy Margolis, at (303) 342-6876 or via e-mail at hmargolis@uso.org.

Stimulus Money at Work
If you haven’t seen tangible evidence of federal economic stimulus funds at work, you can at DIA. Some of the construction on Denver International Airport’s airfield this summer is courtesy of a small percentage of federal stimulus money – $12 million. The stimulus funds awarded to DIA are financing several projects.

The largest chunk of the monies is going toward rehabilitating one of DIA’s four north-south runways – Runway 17L/35R. The airport will spend $7 million to replace concrete panels on this runway and its associated taxiways that have deteriorated since the airport opened 14 years ago.

Repair work on Runway 17L/35R

While the runway is being repaired, air traffic can operate on DIA’s other five runways, so there is little impact to flights. Runway 17L/35R, which has been closed for several weeks, is scheduled to reopen in September.

Best Seats in the House
DIA’s Ramp Control Tower
With a bird’s-eye view, air traffic controllers in the B Ramp Control Tower at Denver International Airport have the task of ensuring safe operations for an average 1,700 flights per day.

The tower at B Gates is one of three control towers at DIA. The 327-foot-tall tower at C Gates houses  FAA personnel, who control air traffic landings and departures. A Gates also has a ramp tower, but it has not been needed to date and is not staffed.

From the time a plane pushes back from its gate for takeoff until it arrives at its destination gate, the pilot is in radio communication with numerous air traffic controllers – each overseeing a specific sector. The pilot is handed off from one controller to another. One sector of aircraft operations, called the “non-movement area” – essentially the taxiways between concourses and the apron around airline gates (i.e., the ramp) – is handled by DIA’s B Ramp Control Tower. When an aircraft reaches the “movement area” – airfield taxiways and runways – the ramp controllers hand off aircraft guidance to the FAA controllers. Conversely, ramp controllers begin directing pilots once an arriving aircraft leaves the “movement area” and begins to taxi on the ramp.

Controllers at DIA’s ramp tower at B Gates direct aircraft operations on ramp taxiways and at airline gates

These air traffic controllers’ mission is to manage the flow of planes safely, orderly, and quickly to and from the gate within the “non-movement area.” The everyday duties for ramp controllers are to:

1. Approve pushing back the plane from the gate when clear
2. Coordinate ramp snow removal, maintenance activities, and deicing operations
3. Guide pilots as they taxi planes to and from gates
4. Manage gate usage
5. Work with airlines and airport operations on various other day-to-day operational issues that affect the ramp 

Under a letter of agreement with the FAA, DIA’s Ramp Control Tower is managed by the City and County of Denver. United Airlines also has a letter of agreement with Denver to mange traffic flow to and from its own gates under the airport’s rules and regulations. Both city controllers and United controllers have the same duties, but United controllers communicate only with their aircraft.

This system is unique. Most U.S. airports do not have a ramp control tower that is managed by the airport. It works at DIA because the FAA tower’s height makes it difficult for the controllers to see directly beneath them in the “non-movement area,” so the shorter tower gives the ramp controllers a better view of aircraft while in communication with pilots.  

The ramp tower is staffed 24/7, with six controllers (three from the city and three from United), from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. and two controllers (one from each organization) from 11:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m.

DIA’s unique model has proven to be very efficient, and has attracted the interest of other large airports around the world. Before Seoul’s Incheon International Airport opened in 2001, South Korean officials studied DIA and now use a similar model for their ramp tower operations. Recently, DIA was visited by Beijing airport officials who spent time observing and learning from DIA’s and United Airlines’ ramp tower controllers. 

DIA Ambassadors Receive Presidential Service Award
The men and women in DIA’s Hospitality Ambassador Program received a special award on July 31 during the airport’s annual recognition of its corps of customer service volunteers. Two hundred and twenty-two ambassadors received the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, and received a congratulatory letter from President Obama.

The Presidential Volunteer Service Award is a program of the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, which was established in 2003 to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making and to encourage more people to serve. The council created the award program to thank and honor American citizens who have demonstrated commitment to service and by their examples have inspired others to serve as volunteers.

The council believes that recognizing volunteers sets a standard for service, encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation, and inspires others to make service a central part of their lives.

Volunteers who are honored also receive a gold, silver, or bronze service pin, depending on the number of hours contributed a year. In addition they receive an award certificate and a letter from the council.

Lifetime service (more than 4,000 volunteer hours) is also recognized, and seven DIA ambassadors have received the lifetime award to date.

DIA Has Second-Busiest June in Its History
Passenger Traffic Still Below 2008 Levels
A total of 4,708,808 passengers were recorded at Denver International Airport in June, a 2.5 percent decline from the 4,829,829 travelers who used the airport during the same month last year. The monthly dip was the smallest at DIA since January, when traffic declined 2.4 percent compared with the same month the previous year.

Despite the drop, it was the second-busiest June in DIA’s history and the fifth-busiest month ever at the airport.

For the first six months of the year, passenger traffic at DIA totaled 24,337,554.  That was down 4.7 percent from the 25,551,220 passengers recorded in the first half of 2008.

DIA Now Has a Facebook Page
Fans of Facebook can now be fans of Denver International and visit the airport’s new Facebook page.

DIA will post news, photographs, fun facts, trivia and other interesting content on its new page. You can click on links to YouTube to watch videos about what’s going on at DIA.

The DIA Facebook page is also a place where you can have a dialogue with us. Tell us what you’d like to see at the airport or what we could do to improve. We welcome the interaction with our patrons and visitors.

So have fun, and share your experiences with us.

Opportunities at the Airport
The DIA Way Joint Forum

Denver International Airport developed The DIA Way program to help businesses win contracting opportunities at the airport. The program established ongoing industry-specific forums dedicated to updating minority, women, and disadvantaged business entrepreneurs on airport business developments, providing information on contracting prospects and how they are announced, and teaching how to facilitate relationships with prime contractors at DIA.

The next DIA Way Joint Forum will be held from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009, at the Denver Renaissance Hotel, 3801 Quebec St. Four business sectors – planning and design, construction, information technology, and concessions – will be included in this forum. Individual sectors will separate into groups, and DIA senior staff will provide information on airport business opportunities, including DIA’s specific contracting needs and the schedules for the release of Requests for Proposals. Each breakout session will include several DIA prime contractors, who will share background on their companies and their DBE subcontracting needs. 

The forum is free, but please pre-register at:
flydenver.com/contracts