The Final Hours of Stapleton Intl. Airport - TV News Compilation - 1995

[@DullesPlaneSpotter]

From Google Earth, you can see that the city has almost expanded completely over the old airport. I can only see a fragment of a taxiway that remains. The helicopter tour of the airfield was awesome. Great video.

[@keenbug]

It's been an amazing transformation over 20 years.

[@qcriderbrandon9047]

It's very sad that this part of Denver history is no more. Luckily, I have visited the lone control tower several times over the years!

[@DullesPlaneSpotter]

Nice to know it still exists!

[@MrDynafxdc]

Yup many sad departures and happy returns to that airport while in the Army, sad to see it go.

[@kyokushinkuma]

At the far north end there’s still a a little bit of a taxiway and part of runway 35R.

[@Sel-Shackfield]

On weekends when my family lived in Aurora, we'd park at the East side of the airport in line of the runway and watch the planes fly over our heads on the final approach for landing. My brother and I used to ride our bikes from Englewood to Stapleton. just to roam the concourses and look at the planes up close. A period between 46-52 years ago.

[@humortangelo3975]

Stapleton had beautiful toilets when there was no poo poo in them.

[@ijks2010]

Thanks so much for posting this! I was born on February 26, 1995, the day before Stapleton closed and I've always been interested in the history of Stapleton and the redevelopment of the site.

[@Carly_Jay]

Sometime in early 1995 I “visited” Stapleton. A coworker was arriving from a red-eye flight and asked me to pick her up then. I jumped at the chance to say goodbye. I walked everywhere I was allowed to go which was pretty much anywhere. It was empty and spooky and oh so quiet. Fond memories.

[@bushputz]

I'm a Denver native, born in 1957. In the 60's, Dad would take us kids to just outside Stapleton, and we'd watch the planes go overhead just a hundred feet or so during take-offs and landings. When friends or family flew, we'd gather up the family and head to the airport. We'd gather around the gate to wait for their arrival or to see them off. In the eighties, I worked for Continental Airlines out of the flight kitchen on Smith Road, catering flights. That was one of my all-time favorite jobs. What I miss most about Stapleton is the openness and freedom I felt there. Sometimes, while waiting for my flights to cater, I would wander the concourses late at night. Nobody bothered me, there was no TSA to hassle people, and the airport just felt peaceful and calm. Stapleton International Airport has always been and will always be a huge part of my life.

[@DjsAviation]

A huge like! Keep up the great work

[@keenbug]

Thanks

[@CROWOREGON]

I worked for Continental in Seattle but would go to Denver a lot and went to Stapleton more times than I can count. Thank you for this video of time gone by. I would trade my house in right now to go back to these times.

[@Squab1987]

Can you please let me know if the security checkpoints were in front of each concourse, or right next to the ticket counters (where if you wanted to go from A to E w/out having to re-enter, you could do it.

[@SkyHighGuys]

I never ever got to experience Stapleton. I lived in the era of DIA! But this still strikes a bit of sadness. I hate seeing any airport close down

[@dave4shmups]

I was born in Denver in 1977, and I miss this airport.

[@codemeister26]

I was born in Denver in 1967 (10 years before you) and I remember my father flying in and out of the Stapleton Airport in the mid 1970's. We left flying from Stapleton in Denver on May 31, 1977 to move to Los Angeles, California. I've been back to Denver flying in from Ontario, California on Saturday April 5th, 1986 flying from Stapleton to Boston Logan to move to Nashua NH. Then I came back for a week in September 1989 and visited all my childhood memories (including the airport). And my last time through Denver( and Stapleton) was Sunday June 7, 1992 on my way to Vernal Utah for an Outward Bound course. And then the return trip over 2 weeks later to fly home to Boston. I've moved again to middle Georgia area about 3 months later after Stapleton closed and DIA opened. I've not been back to Denver since but hope to come out and see the new DIA (now 26 years old) and visit the community now raised up where Stapleton had been .

[@charliethorp996]

My grandpa Andy Anderson used to run the plow divisions there for awhile I remember him taking us in there as kids The security was light if any we were allowed to go ride around in the trucks climb on the fire trucks definitely back in the good old days. He worked there for 28 years I want to say.

[@keenbug]

Great memory!

[@keithjackson1042]

Stapleton was special. I still miss it.

[@keenbug]

I miss it too.

[@milehighkit4725]

A good friend of mine lived out in Montebello then. I remember going over to his place having a few beers and watching the parade :-) it was kind of sad for me growing up in Denver watching the old airport go down the road.

[@doug9066]

I had found this very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

[@keenbug]

Thank you for watching!

[@jltaviation]

I got to visit the control tower and one of the controllers gave me his headset and gave me the opportunity to clear to land one of the United flights at Denver Stapleton. This airport is my home where I belong. I’m sad that it’s gone.

[@keenbug]

Nice memory!

[@andrewbisset3616]

This is great! Nice job on tracking down all that old archive footage, lots of familiar faces in those reports!

[@jefferyrobertson7520]

Denver Stapleton International Airport largest hub for United Airlines from 1970 through 1993 era

[@kirkangel525]

fantastic upload!

[@billysmith5721]

lived in denver 1973 1671 washington street. i remember the runway across interstate 25

[@koprcord5338]

I 70, not 25.

[@jeffking5505]

The first airport I flew out of in 1994, I flew to Hawaii about two months before it closed

[@Marcie66]

I was born and raised in Denver left in 1977 floor there to go to Florida I loved Stapleton. I became a plane spotter and it was an amazing airport now I’m in Florida. Went to the new airport in 2016. It’s nice but nothing like Stapleton.Stapleton was amazing.

[@CO84trucker]

I remember flying into Stapleton back in 1994 for a ski trip with my family and my older brother (who was living in Denver then) greeted us at the gate. Just 4 years later I'd be flying into the new airport in West Kansas.

[@davidmeador1502]

I was flying from ONT (via DEN Stapleton) to IAD(Washington Dulles) on Continental. Continental also permanently closed their Denver hub when Stapleton closed. That was sad for me.

[@cblay3084]

This is awesome!

[@ProactiveTech480]

Being in PHX, that America West brings back memories!

[@RKingis]

We went to the airshow just a few weeks before DIA opened. Only time people were allowed on the runways. Oh, and the tshirts with all the missed opening dates of DIA.

[@bilalahmed2123]

Nice video. Thanks

[@Ry_dolla]

I still work with some of the dudes in this video hahaha

[@chrisdominguez9611]

12:15 56 and peoria i live by there now in montbello and its so different now

[@christiansotelo55]

Right when I saw the start of the ground vehicles driving them all the way from Stapleton airport all the way to Denver International Airport I first thought how in the world do they have the energy on the ground vehicles itself because I didn't think they'd last that long until a couple of seconds later they said United Airlines had a good few that broke down....1% of the fleet is definitely good news since I thought it'd be much higher due to the extremely long drive.

[@realmccoy9597]

Back when Colorado was Colorado, now it's way to expensive and overcrowded.

[@saalvosegg8171]

How I wish we still had those days. I'm 25 born and raised here in Colorado. I hate what our state has become.

[@scottishterrier9308]

Yeah, I was born in Colorado in early 80’s and moved after 9/11 happened. When I visit the state now, it is almost unrecognizable with the housing boom and the insane housing prices. That is probably thanks to the crap ton of people who moved from California. Same thing is now happening in my home state with New Yorkers flocking and making home prices so much higher.

[@laserbeard328]

this reply is so dramatic

[@zrrifle.]

Stapleton was more than sufficient for the Denver area. But Pena wanted to get Denver on the map so to speak and create a huge mega-metropolis with DIA and a bunch of other ambitious projects.

[@JasonBournewrong]

hahahaha

[@jacksongennet967]

It definitely worked because we’ve already had three new international airlines and two new European destinations just in the last 4 months or so.

[@joeg5414]

Crazy how many of these reporters are still there, especially at 9 News.

[@Matthew_Howard5785]

I live at a old air port oh but I have seen the tower it’s still there

[@AFL_TheRobloxKid]

Nice!

[@jello9079]

Now I’m thinking. Couldn’t they have kept both open but made DIA the main airport

[@keenbug]

With the advancements in noise reduction, sure seems like it would have worked out!

[@kammore6209]

This is so cool

[@WilliamB161]

Nice video

[@keenbug]

Thanks

[@locoHAWAIIANkane]

Question for anyone who knows, please forgive my ignorance here. When they shut down an airport like this, are airlines offered to create a hub to use the entire airport or is that just not feasible?

[@chaoszombie9995]

I saw a few Battleship United planes.. while Stapleton will be missed (and is now damn near nonexistent as it has since been turned into housing.. all the remains is the control tower.. and the neighborhood bearing the same name.. has since changed as well..)

[@jasonkeller6082]

KCNC-4 1995, classic.

[@billionairelivesmatter]

And it was NBC 4 at that time. The affiliates changed networks.

[@jasonkeller6082]

@@billionairelivesmatter Yes, in fact later on in the same year I think in mid-September

[@trr9230]

This is the biggest airport that's been closed forever. A mastodon! Kinda unreal that they closed and razed such a huge and iconic facility.

[@michaelbryant912]

How cool thank you for sharing

[@AlonsoRules]

1:03 how many bags does one person need lol

[@keenbug]

looks like $7000 in bag fees by today's standards,, lol

[@AlonsoRules]

@@keenbug On second viewing it looks like old style baggage check in, outside of the terminal. The pre 9/11 days were much easier.

[@Thaddeussupreme]

That news anchor works in LA now

[@RVaitorCA]

why was that lady vacuuming when it was all going to be bulldozed....

[@worldsgreatestdude1784]

If you were parking at Stapleton parking lots, what would happen to your car?

[@BossChronicles]

Why was the airport shut down ? Now it’s a residential area ?

[@keenbug]

The airport was too close to the city and had no good options to expand, so a new airport was built far away from the city and homes.

[@8avexp]

It was outmoded and because of runway placement, all incoming flights had to be funneled onto one runway in bad weather, resulting in a bottleneck.

[@koprcord5338]

​@keenbug kinda funny they moved it and now all the residential housing is encroaching on dia and they are bitching about the noise again.

[@avgfree21]

why was it closed?

[@keenbug]

Originally it was far from the city but eventually the city grew around it and it was difficult to grow and expand. The concourses were so close together, the congestion caused many delays, plus, the runways were too close to allow multi landings in bad weather. Lots of noise complaints from the surrounding neighborhoods too, although that was hard to accept as the airport was there first.

[@keenbug]

The new airport was placed on election ballot and passed with great controversy in the 1980's.

[@jimholmes2555]

There was a joke going around back in the day. "Why did Denver build a new airport?" "Because the old one was too big."

[@radudeATL]

@@keenbugThey are going to have similar issues with DIA with development encroaching. Hopefully it won’t get as bad as it did with Stapleton…

[@tvflight7858]

Ok, I understand that they needed bigger airport, but why they couldn't renovate this old one, or just build another without destroying it?

[@keenbug]

Even though the airport was there first, eventually nearby homeowners complained about noise. Also not much room to expand with runways too close to each other for multi landing runways in bad weather. Sad that it was destroyed, but that's progress.

[@tvflight7858]

They could always leave it as park like Berlin does with EDDI (Tempelhof)

[@alexmartin0824]

TV FLIGHT such large, valuable land close to a city would never become only a park. They would zone it for residential buildings so more people can move to Denver.

[@Banom7a]

@@tvflight7858 there's already a large park north of it (Rocky Mountain Arsenal)

[@willieboy8798]

they forgot the service members.... that airport was a hub for all the soldiers changing station or going home after war! that means wwii, korea, veitnam and the first gulf war... 60 years worth! edit nobody alive today was working for the opening.....news your wrong!

[@jimholmes2555]

And those Big, Beautiful Hangars 5 and 6 torn down for another stinking Walmart.

[@REVENTONAtilla]

!!! They should be Ashamed of their franchised asses..!!

[@avicennaarshadharahap9098]

Sigh, its funny i'm watching a video about Stapleton and my icon is a Continental Meatball logo

[@oopsibrokethecow]

Still don't get why it closed down. DIA is a fucking nightmare.

[@stevenhickey326]

Aimee Sporer

[@BIGLOVE4TRUTH]

It was so stupid to close Stapleton and build DIA. First, all they needed and had room for was another concourse. Second, it was 10 minutes to the financial district downtown. Third, we all know about the shady dealings with the contractors building DIA. Fourth, DIA is out in the middle of nowhere and there is lots of wind shear. Not to mention it is built in an old Native American burial ground. Lastly the place is so creepy.

[@rexdilligam6261]

The baggage system is awful and it’s far from everything

[@dragonknightofamiraka3636]

Sheep

[@westonmickey3890]

What do you mean?