DENVER STAPLETON
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT



Just about every picture of Stapleton Airport in existence (including some of my own) can be found on Steve Gustafson's excellent Stapleton page. This page will be very light on pictures as a result.

Stapleton Municipal Airport unveiled its multimillion-dollar new terminal complex in late 1966, replacing an undersized facility that had been in use since the late 1920s. The new complex was situated just north of the old terminal and actually incorporated the newest portion of the old facility into its design.

The main terminal consisted of a half-moon shaped three-level structure served by a dual-level roadway. Ticket counters were located on the upper level. Beyond the ticket hall, passengers passed into a "Great Hall" with shops, lounges and a full-service restaurant. On the mezzanine above were the various airline offices.

On the ground level was baggage claim, which was housed in a section of the old terminal that had been connected to the new building above. Six automated carousels were installed - at that time one of the largest installations of baggage carousels in the country.

Branching from the main building were two boarding concourses (observation decks extended from the main terminal to the first boarding gates on each concourse.) The northern finger, the "red" pier or Concourse C, housed Western, Continental, Ozark, Central, Texas International and TWA. The southern "blue" pier or Concourse B was occupied by United, North Central and Braniff. Denver's 'hometown' airline, Frontier, remained in a section of the old terminal, which was colored green and designated Concourse A.


Artist's rendering of Stapleton in its initial phase. At right is the portion of the 1930s terminal that was preserved and intergrated into the new complex.


Diagrams of DEN in 1971 (left) and 1972 (right), before the opening of the terminal's second increment in 1972.

Traffic grew steadily in the latter half of the 1960s, however, and by 1970 airport officials were breaking ground on the second phase of the terminal building. When it was completed in 1972, the main terminal had been extended to the northwest and almost doubled in size. A new 'mega concourse' with 32 gates and moving walkways was opened, with Frontier and TWA as the primary tenants. North Central, Texas International and Ozark also used this extension. It was named Concourse D; at the same time, the color designations for the concourses were dropped.


A diagram of DEN in 1979, showing the Concourse D entrance and locations of some of the new entrant airlines.

Delta received Denver route authority in 1977 and moved into Concourse D, but the real jump for Denver came after Deregulation was passed in 1978. By 1983 the airport was operating at maximum capacity, with hundreds of flights operating each day. Aircraft stacked up five and six deep at the threshold of each runway, while the terminal was jammed to the gills with passengers. Frontier, United and Continental were all operating HUGE connecting hubs out of Stapleton at this time.

During 1983-1984 - the zenith of passenger operations at Stapleton, when DEN handled almost 30 million passengers - gate space in the terminal was scarce. United occupied all of Concourse B (it took over Braniff's gates after 1982) although it leased two gates to USAir. United also used a portion of the old Concourse A, as did commuter and air taxi operations. Continental used the lion's share of Concourse C for its hub; Western, Mexicana, American and Eastern were also housed here. Frontier was the dominant carrier on Concourse D, which was also home to Northwest, People Express, TWA, Piedmont, Republic, Ozark, Southwest, Delta and America West.

The situation grew so bad that by 1984, Continental and Frontier were using 'mobile lounges' to shuttle passengers to remote docking stations adjacent to their maintenance hangars. City officials decided that Stapleton had reached the end of its useful life and began planning for a new airport on the plains east of the city. At the same time, a major expansion of the Stapleton terminal was announced.


A diagram from 1983 showing the planned improvements to Stapleton (except for the Concourse B reconstruction). The long, linear Concourse A extension was never built. Concourse E was also built further north of its intended location.

The first component of the project involved razing the existing Concourse A and constructing a modern $16 million 8-gate facility for United Airlines. This was finished in December 1985. Around the same time, a four-gate extension of Continental's Concourse C - with a ramp control tower and new holdrooms for widebody aircraft - was finished.

In March 1986, a $26 million extension of the main terminal was opened, adding 25% more ticket counter and baggage claim space. Although new, it was built in the style of the existing terminal to ensure architectural continuity. Delta, American, Northwest, Piedmont, People Express, Ozark, Republic and Eastern moved into this new extension, allowing hub airlines Continental and Frontier to take over their old counter areas.

The next round of additions was finished in April 1987. United spent $40 million to incrementally demolish and rebuild Concourse B, replacing it with a wider, larger facility. The project also included a connector bridge to Concoure A bypassing the security checkpoint. At the same time, a $16 million commuter terminal known as "A Plus" was opened on the far west side of the terminal building. Original plans called for this building to be joined to Concourse A by an eight-gate connector (see the diagram) but this never happened.


United's Concourse B reconstruction underway in 1986. The far end of the concourse is nearing completion, while the inside portion has not yet been razed and rebuilt.


Three views of the renovated United facilities during 1987. The first shows the new exterior facing on Concourse B, while the second shows the wide, skylit interior. The third photo shows the interior of the newly built Concourse A.
Reprinted from Airport World magazine

The largest component of the project was the $55 million Concourse E, which opened in summer 1987. With 55,000 square feet and 21 gates, Concourse E was designed for DEN's nonhubbing carriers. It consisted of three modular increments with high ceilings, elevated moving walkways and lots of interior landscaping. It was designed to be converted to office space once Stapleton was closed.

Also included in the DEN improvement project was a $16 million interior makeover for Continental's Concourse C, including a new automated baggage sorting system. This was done in 1988.


An excellent overview of the DEN terminal in the late 1980s, once the modifications were complete. Both Continental and United's hub operations are in full swing in this photo. Note the new Concourse E at rear, as well as the relatively empty Concourse D at right. The "A Plus" terminal is at rear left; note that it was never connected to the main complex.

The impressive expansion program was completed right as Denver - and the airline industry - experienced a major downturn in passenger traffic. Frontier ceased operations in September 1986; its routes and aircraft were later folded into Continental, which also acquired all of its Concourse D gates. Northwest took over Republic, Western merged with Delta, USAir acquired Piedmont, and TWA bought Ozark. The airport found many of its newly constructed gates sitting idle for most of the day.

Construction on the new airport continued; congestion on Stapleton's runways was reason enough to build a new airport, even if the terminal complex was now adequate. By the early 1990s, Stapleton was handling LESS passengers than it had handled in the early 1980s.

The new airport's opening was delayed several times, finally being pushed back to February 1995. In the meantime, Continental scaled back its Denver operations dramatically. Flights were consolidated back to Concourse C; the former Frontier gates on Concourse D were abandoned, except for a few that were retained for Continental Express commuter flights. The Continental hub was finally closed in late 1994, at which point all but three gates on Concourse C were abandoned as well. United was now Denver's dominant carrier


An aerial view of Stapleton shortly before the new airport opened. Note that Concourse D is almost deserted, except for a few Continental Express and TWA aircraft. There are still a few Continental aircraft on Concourse C - the hub was gradually pared down instead of being closed all at once. United's gates are all empty; UA must have been between banks at the time the photo was taken.

Stapleton's last full day of operations was February 27, 1995. On the last day, United was operating from Concourses A and B, as well as from a number of vacant gates on Concourses C and E (no doubt a nightmare for connecting passengers.) Concourse C was used by Continental for its barebones flights to IAH, EWR and CLE, as well as by the resurrected Frontier and Mexicana. Concourse D was almost completely vacant except for TWA, low-fare carrier MarkAir, and charter operator Sun Country. The other airlines were consolidated on Concourse E.

The following photos were taken by Dylan Hardman in the summer of 1995, about five months after Stapleton closed:


Concourse A and the control tower, seen from former long-term parking lots along the airport's western boundary. The edge of the A-Plus commuter terminal is also visible.


Vegetation starting to creep over former runways 8L-26R and 8R-26L.


Several views of the abandoned Concourse D. For several years in the early 1980s, Concourse D was the airport's busiest - it handled hometown airline Frontier, plus a slew of non-hubbing airlines (Eastern, TWA, Southwest, Delta, Northwest, etc.) By the time the airport closed, it was the emptiest, used only by TWA and a handful of Continental Express, Sun Country and MarkAir flights. The third photo shows Concourse D's mobile lounge docks, used by Frontier for several years in the 1980s at the height of its DEN hub.


The abandoned Concourse E, which was only seven years old when the airport closed. It still looks quite modern, especially in comparison to the adjoining main terminal and Concourse D.


Continental's former Stapleton hangar, on Smith Road north of the terminal complex. The facility opened in the late 1960s and was for many years Continental's main overhaul base. As construction on the new airport progressed, Continental proposed keeping a single runway at Stapleton open so that it might keep the hangar open, but the proposal was shot down by residents of nearby neighborhoods, who wanted the airport completely demolished. Instead, Continental built a much smaller hangar at the new airport, which is now used by the reincarnated Frontier.


Two more hangars along Smith Road... the first (left) was built by the original Frontier in the mid-1960s. The second (right) was built in the 1950s and originally used by Western Airlines, who had a sizeable presence in Denver. After Deregulation in 1978, Western scaled back its Stapleton operation in favor of Salt Lake City, and the hangar was sold to Frontier. Both hangars were transferred by Continental as part of the 1987 Frontier acquisition and incorporated into its huge Denver maintenance complex (seen in the third photo). All three hangars are painted in Continental's distinctive gold color, used until the current livery was introduced in 1991.


By 1995 United was the winner of the fight for the Denver market. Their hangar was located on Quebec Street north of the terminal entrance, seen here. Today a "big box" shopping center occupies the site.

After the new airport opened, the DEN terminal sat empty and abandoned, slowly falling into disrepair. A hailstorm in 1998 caused severe damage to the main terminal's roof and Concourses C and D. Shortly thereafter, plans to redevelop Concourse E as an office park collapsed, and city officials reluctantly demolished all five concourses and the "A Plus" satellite. The main building came down between 2000 and 2001. Today the empty control tower (which will be preserved) is the only part of the terminal still standing. The rest of the Stapleton site has been transformed into the nation's largest urban-renewal project.


The abandoned DEN terminal in August 1999. The curbside area and elevated roadways are completely deserted.


Looking across DEN's empty ramp in August 1999. The edge of the main terminal is visible at right; the large covered hole was the entrance to Concourse E, which has been razed.

Again, there are hundreds more Stapleton photos located on Steve Gustafson's site. I highly recommend a visit.

MY OWN STAPLETON MEMORIES

I made two trips to Stapleton in the 1990s. The first was on a United DC8 ski charter from Dallas/Fort Worth in March 1991. We landed on runway 26L and arrived at a gate on Concourse A. I recall that Concourse A looked very nice inside - lots of skylights, modern furnishings and greenery cascading down terraces. I also remember riding the rubberized moving walkway from Concourse A to baggage claim in the main building. Our return flight left from Concourse B; like A, it was a wide, spacious facility with lots of natural light.

My next trip was in March 1993, on a Sun Country 727 (also from DFW). This time we arrived at Concourse D in the dead of night. I remember that Concourse D was looking very tired at that point - stains on the ground, watermarks on the ceilings, and carpet that was almost worn through to the floorboards. The concourse was empty, and although there were Continental logos everywhere, many of the gate areas had been closed off. There was also a huge glassed-in model of the new airport in the "Great Hall" area of the main terminal. You can view my photos from this trip on Steve's site.

I flew through the new DIA about a week after it opened, and we drove past Stapleton on our way to and from the city. It was closed, but the jetways were still attached to the gates and the hangars still bore the Continental and United logos. I wish I had taken some photos of Stapleton then, but I was caught up in the excitement of the new airport and it didn't occur to me.

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