New Denver Airport Followup

GAO reviewed the construction schedule and cost status of the Denver International Airport. GAO found that: (1) as of July 1992, construction was on schedule, with 41 percent completed; (2) as of August 1992, the total cost was estimated to be $4 billion; (3) although costs of 27 contracts cited in its September 1991 report have increased about 5 percent due to change orders, the contracts remained about $89 million under their budgeted amount; (4) 83 percent of needed funds for the airport will come from unsecured revenue bonds, with the rest from federal grants, and passenger fees and excess revenues from Stapleton International Airport; (5) two of the four largest all-cargo carriers have decided to operate at the new airport rather than a smaller airport after officials relocated the cargo facilities at the new airport; (6) future cargo losses to the smaller airport could reduce revenues to the new airport, and increase fees to other users; and (7) expansion of the smaller airport for cargo operations would require greater federal expenditures, could potentially cause greater environmental impacts, and could delay flights at the new airport.