DENVER — Police in Denver are seeking the public’s help in locating alleged baggage thieves who targeted Denver International Airport.
The theft occurred at carousel 10 on Jan. 19, at approximately 8:30 p.m., according to police.
On Tuesday, police released an image of the two suspects — a man and a woman — in the hope that the public could help identify them.
No other details about the incident were released.
According to the Denver Police Department, there were more than 40 incidents of luggage theft at DIA last year.
Denver7 has previously reported on several instances of baggage theft, including an alleged serial thief who targeted DIA between June and October of last year.
During that report, airport officials told Denver7 in a statement that they work with Denver police, and at times, officers will “periodically work special assignments to target luggage thefts.”
Anyone with information about the identity of the Jan. 19 suspects is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
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DENVER — Friday’s strong winds made for a bumpy start to the December holiday travel season at Denver International Airport.
FlightAware reported more than 1,200 delays at DIA Friday—the most nationwide—along with more than 80 cancellations.
FlightAware
DEN led FlightAware’s ‘Misery Map’ tracking delays and cancellations at U.S. airports on Friday.
Daniel Katz flew in from South Florida, trying to get to Steamboat Springs for two weeks of skiing and holiday fun. But his connecting flight was delayed several hours, leaving him stranded at the airport.
Katz also said the turbulence was pretty rough on his way into Denver.
“The turbulence was crazy,” he said. “My mom was holding on to me and, like, freaking out. And I said, ‘Everything will be okay.’ I made a quick prayer, and we landed fine.”
Aviation expert Steve Cowell knows strong downslope wind days like Friday aren’t fun for passengers or pilots.
“You’re sitting there in the cockpit, you know, and things are rattling around, and it’s just, it’s just an uncomfortable situation,” he said.
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Cowell likened air flow over the Rocky Mountains to water flowing over rocks in a stream, saying that unpredictable movement can lead to turbulence even on days without extreme winds.
“We live in a place where, you know, sometimes it’s just not comfortable in departing and arriving,” he said. “That’s just the way it is, and that’s because of the terrain.”
Several pilots reported moderate-to-severe or even severe turbulence Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration defines turbulence as ‘severe’ when it “causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and/or attitude. It usually causes large variations in indicated airspeed. Aircraft may be momentarily out of control.”
Cowell says those reports can be subjective, but valuable to pilots when they take several reports into account.
“Depending on those reports, that may determine whether they divert, that may determine whether they delay their flight, that may determine the speed that they’re going to descend,” he explained.
Cowell added while that level of turbulence is still not enough to damage a plane, pilots try to take off and land into the wind when possible, and nasty crosswinds take away some runway options for take-off, leading to lots of delays.
DIA expects more than 750,000 passengers to pass through security at the airport from through next weekend, with the busiest travel days projected to be Dec. 23, Dec. 27 and Dec. 28.
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DENVER — Denver International Airport is already the third-busiest airport in North America, serving around 82 million passengers in 2024 and generating roughly $47 billion in revenue annually.
Airport CEO Phil Washington said the airport, which opened in 1995, was initially built to accommodate 50 million passengers a year.
To do that, the airport is in the early planning stages of a terminal expansion to build future walkable concourses in order to add 50 new gates. It’s also planning a new consolidated, indoor rental car facility to replace the expanse of outdoor lots outside the airport.
Growing DIA wants new energy sources, but nuclear option has some concerned
In a community meeting at the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center on Tuesday night, Washington reiterated that leadership also wants DIA to be “the greenest airport in the world,” to electrify its fleet of vehicles and snowplows, and to help the city of Denver reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2040.
Those environmental goals combined with what Washington said is “incredible growth” coming, means the airport is looking to expand its alternative energy sources.
The airport’s 11 solar arrays currently on-site generate roughly 50 megawatts of power, and the airport currently requires about 45 megawatts to operate. However, Washington said those needs will increase dramatically and he emphasized the importance of power redundancies to avoid catastrophic power failures seen at other airports.
The airport is now submitting a request for information (RFI) from the private sector to assess those energy needs and what potential solutions could look like. Potential options include solar, wind, geothermal and small modular nuclear reactors.
Before Tuesday’s meeting in Green Valley Ranch, airport leaders held community meetings at the airport Westin, as well as in Commerce City and Aurora, to garner feedback to consider before posting the RFI.
“We’re not building anything, we’re not breaking ground on anything,” Washington told Denver7 in a one-on-one interview on Tuesday. “We’re pursuing information, and information is a powerful thing, and we need it for our community.”
Denver7
Denver Airport CEO Phil Washington speaks with Denver7’s Ryan Fish.
Back in August, it seemed the airport was ready to navigate down the path of nuclear energy.
But just two days later, that plan was grounded after community pushback. Denver City Council member Stacie Gilmore — who represents District 11 including the Green Valley Ranch and Montbello neighborhoods near the airport — expressed concern that community outreach didn’t happen before the feasibility study began.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Washington apologized to those at Tuesday’s meeting before starting his presentation, saying they should have prioritized outreach to District 11 first.
Denver7 asked Washington why August’s press conference announcement of a nuclear power feasibility study changed to a more methodical approach.
“It’s important that we get things right, and so getting things right may mean changing course, and we’re happy to do that,” Washington replied.
Denver7
A packed Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center for a meeting with Denver Airport leaders.
Other neighbors have raised environmental, health or safety concerns surrounding a plan to use nuclear energy at the airport. Those same concerns came up at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“To consider that here for this airport would be precedent-setting,” one attendee said in a Q&A with Washington. “Once that precedent is set, it’s likely to begin a chain reaction… A singular modular reactor may not be much of an issue. You get ten of ’em, you get 10 times the potential for a problem.”
Gilmore spoke during the Q&A as well, accusing Washington and the airport of planning to generate more revenue at the cost of their District 11 neighbors’ health.
Others said there should be better communication between the neighborhoods and airport leaders, or called for a community benefits agreement where the airport uses revenue to invest in the well-being of neighbors who now deal with airport impacts like worsening traffic.
For his part, at one point Washington told the packed meeting, “If there are [energy] solutions out there that are gonna harm people, then we’re not gonna do it.” He did not commit specifically to avoiding nuclear power or any other alternative energy option.
Denver7 previously spoke with Thomas Albrecht, professor and director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Center at the Colorado School of Mines, about SMR’s, what they are, and how they work. You can watch the full interview in the player below:
Denver7 interview with Thomas Albrecht
Washington says the work being done now will be the blueprint for handling energy needs at the airport for decades to come.
“We’re making the first step to ensure the future of the largest economic generator in the state, and west of the Mississippi, for the next 50 years,” he told Denver7. “We don’t know what we don’t know. And so it’s our responsibility to get the future prepared.”
Washington says the airport plans to post the RFI by January, evaluate it through the spring, and then start another round of community outreach about their conclusions sometime next summer.
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DENVER — Even with the end of the government shutdown in sight, transportation experts told Denver7 Wednesday air travel may continue to see some effects in the coming days.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency order freezing flight reductions at its current level of 6%, citing “a rapid decline in controller callouts.”
MSU Denver aviation expert Chad Kendall told Denver7 travel impacts at Denver International Airport (DIA) during the shutdown could have been worse.
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“We haven’t seen those impacts as far as delays at our airport, and that’s just kind of given the advantages of our airspace, too. We don’t compete with a lot of the airports, like a lot of the other airports do, as far as airspace,” explained Kendall.
Kendall estimated airlines will need about 24 to 48 hours to get back to normal as soon as the FAA gets the green light to lift restrictions.
He said getting federal workers back to normal staffing levels could take a little extra time, though.
“We were already in a staffing shortage of air traffic controllers before. The shutdown may have just exacerbated that just a little bit. So I expect within the weeks after the government reopens, that we still see pockets of delays at busy airports during peak times,” said Kendall.
He said you should still be staying up-to-date with your airline if you’re traveling in the next week or so — just to make sure you’re not hit with any unexpected delays.
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DENVER — Officials at Denver International Airport want to start paying federal air traffic controllers out of their own budget, while the federal government remains stuck in the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
DIA officials submitted a request on Wednesday, seeking permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to use airport revenue to temporarily fund wages for air traffic controllers.
DEN CEO Phil Washington said the airport plans to seek federal reimbursement once the shutdown ends, underscoring their hope to bring relief and stability to affected employees during this uncertain time.
“As part of our airport family, it’s our hope that we can reduce the hardship on them by covering their wages during the shutdown, with reimbursement by the FAA later. We would love to be able to do more and provide wage support for all the federal workers at DEN, as they are all critical to our operation, but given the number of federal employees, we are only able to support controllers at this time,” Washington said in a press release.
This comes as the agency said that it would reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 “high-volume” markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing shutdown.
National News
FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 ‘high-volume’ markets due to shutdown
This move by the FAA is likely to have an impact at DIA, but the extent of this impact is unknown.
DIA officials told Denver7 they will work with the agency “to understand specific impacts, including whether DEN will be one of the 40 airports affected.”
In addition, DIA has launched a donation-supported pantry to aid the 1,800 unpaid federal employees at the airport, including TSA, FAA, and CBP staff.
Donations of food, toiletries, baby and pet supplies, gift cards, and monetary contributions are being accepted at the Final Approach cell phone lot building, located at 7684 N Wenatchee Street, or at the Information Booth in the center of the Terminal/Great Hall, level 5.
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DENVER (AP) — A United Airlines pilot has been charged with criminal mischief for allegedly using an ax to destroy a barrier gate at an employee parking lot at Denver’s airport, telling authorities he was trying to help several drivers exit and “he just hit his breaking point.”
Kenneth Henderson Jones, 63, is accused of repeatedly striking the metal parking arm with a long-handled ax Aug. 2, knocking it off of its base and then fleeing on foot when a lot attendant confronted him. The employee told investigators he was able to grab the weapon from Jones during a scuffle near a security fence. The pilot then ran into a nearby field, where he was taken into custody by Denver police.
According to a report by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Jones told a deputy that about six vehicles were behind each of the parking lot’s three exit gates, so he retrieved the ax from his parked car to help the drivers leave.
“Kenneth started by saying he just hit his breaking point,” the report stated.
Jones, who was released shortly after the scuffle, did not immediately respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press on Friday evening. A statement issued by the airline Friday said Jones “was removed from the schedule and is on leave while United conducts an internal investigation.”
The manager of the lot said it would cost about $300 to fix the damaged parking arm, according to the sheriff’s office report.
