Whenever it opens, Denver International Airport will do so without its much-touted, state-of-the-art automated baggage system, Mayor Wellington Webb announced Thurdsay.
Acting on the recommendations of their consultant, Denver officials decided to construct an alternative baggage system for use until the troublesome computerized system is completed, Webb said at a press conference.
However, the decision to build the alternate baggage system does little to lift the fog surrounding a precise opening date for the $4 billion airport.
While construction of the new, manual system could be completed before yearend, required federal government notifications and airline personnel training would probably roll back use of the system to early 1995, said Briggs Gamblin, the mayor's spokesman.
The mayor will not set a date for the airport to open until "performance milestones" in construction and testing are met, Gamblin said.
Denver officials hope to finalize a contract soon with Rapistan/Demag of Grand Rapids, MiCh., to construct the alternate system.
The alternative plan has not been well received by United Airlines, the dominant hub airline in Denver, a United spokesman said.
In a report released earlier this week, Denver's consultant on the baggage system, a German engineering firm, Logplan/Fekuma, recommended several alternatives, including that the city construct a standalone alternative baggage system.
As individual portions of the automated baggage system become operational, they will replace portions of the manual system, Gamblin said.
The automated system -- which had been touted by Denver officials as a feature which would distinguish Denver from other U.S. airports -- has already been the cause of at least three delays in the opening of the airport. Problems with the system also have caused bond rating agencies Moody's Investors Service Inc. and Standard & Poor's Corp. to downgrade the bonds. Moody's rates the bonds conditional Baa-1. The bonds are rated BB by Standard & Poor's.
Builders of the troubled baggage system, BAE Automated Systems Inc. of Dallas, still can't tell Denver officials when the automated system will be ready. Logplan estimated the system will eventually work within five to six months or longer.
Construction of the airport has been completed, but city officials have been unable to open the airport because of an agreement with the airlines prohibits the airport from opening without a fully automated baggage system.
Delays are costing the city approximately $33 million per month.
Last month United Airlines and Denver officials reached an agreement that would allow the city to open the airport without the fully automated baggage system in place.
But United Airlines officials are unhappy with Denver's alternative baggage plan to initially operate with a completely manual baggage system.
"We will continue to work with the city but we are not yet convinced that the system they are proposing will reasonable meet the needs of our customers," a United spokesman said.
United will conduct an independent analysis of the baggage system, which it hopes to complete within 30 days, the spokesman said.
As envisioned, the automated system is supposed to operate with 4,200 cars that travel along tracks beneath the Denver airport. The carts would each carry one bag and be routed by radio-controlled sensors operated by several central computers. Each self contained "loop" depending on the concourse it serves, has a computer. Scanners along the track would feed information back to the computer which radios back signals telling the cart where to go.
The system is designed to bring bags from the concourse to the terminal building in 10 minutes. However tests of the system have averaged about 30 minutes for baggage transport.
The alternate system will transport bags in about 20 minutes, Gamblin said.
