The regular meeting of July 23, 2007 of the Centennial Council of Neighborhoods (CenCON) was cancelled and in its place members were invited to a behind the scenes tour of Centennial Airport. The tour included a presentation by Centennial Airport Executive Director, Robert Olislagers about the airport. His presentation covered the following items.

• There are 320,000 operations (take-offs & landings) each year or approximately 1/minute.
• 13 million gallons of fuel are sold annually.
• Centennial is the 3^rd busiest General Aviation airport and the 29^th busiest airport overall.
• It is an international airport.
• It has 3 runways and covers 1400 acres.
• There are 22 full-time employees and is staffed 24/7.
• It was established as an Authority, a quasi-governmental entity, and operates under the jurisdiction of the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners.

• There has been a 23% drop in operations since 1998 to 319,713 due to piston aircraft dropping off.
• Fuel sales have escalated.
• As long as operations are at 300,000 or above, no scheduled aircraft may be operated from Centennial per federal regulations.

• Complaints have increased as the number of flights has decreased.
• There are many new air traffic controllers who have come on board to replace those who have retired. It was stated that the new controllers often err on the side of safety in directing the planes until they become more familiar with the nearby airspace and surrounding residential areas around the airport.
• In 2006, 5 households accounted for 78% of the total complaints of approximately 11,000.

• Centennial Airport is home to flight departments of several corporations including; Liberty Media Starz, First Data, Remax and EchoStar.
• Seven of Fortune’s ‘Top Ten’ use Centennial Airport regularly.
• Centennial has regular non-stop flights to/from Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo, Amsterdam, London & Paris.
• Economic impacts of the Airport: over 2000 jobs and an annual economic impact of $1 billion.

• In the last five years, Centennial has averaged 100,000 square feet of new hanger development a year.
• There is no room for additional runways.
• Centennial has the capacity to handle 500,000 operations (take offs & landings) per year.
• Centennial Airport has received several snow removal awards.

Following Mr. Olislagers’ presentation, a bus tour along the flight line was taken by those present. Among the items noted were: the US Customs office, the Perfect Landing Restaurant, the designated plane to fly organ donations to their destination (it has priority clearance when needed), Adams Aircraft hangars with planes under construction, Hanger #7 (yes, it is John Elway’s hanger), the hanger with helicopters being outfitted as ‘Flight for Life’ choppers, the locations of major corporations at the south end of the airfield, and the race track for the cart racers on the southeast area of the airport.

Prior to the airport presentation, the following report was given.

• Parker Fire District continues to seek property to construct a fire station on Arapahoe Road.
• Parker will conduct a Safety rodeo on August 18 at their training facility.
• South Metro and Parker Districts will share the dispatch center
• The multi-casualty incident at Landmark, a result of a building collapse on July 5, was seamless as the emergency response worked well.
• A fire ban ordinance is anticipated throughout the County due to dry conditions.
• Local firefighters are often dispatched to other states to assist with wildfires. Federal funding covers all costs associated with this effort including local backfill.
• Insurance Service Organization (ISO) rates the ability and effectiveness of fire departments. That rating on a scale of 1 – 10, further influences homeowner insurance rates. Littleton, South Metro and Cunningham are rated a ‘3’, and Parker has a ‘4’ rating. It was stated that Denver is rated a ‘2’, the highest in the state.

Page last updated on: 08/31/2007