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8 9 OPENING LINES USVI ADVANCES AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT PLANS T he US Virgin Islands is advancing plans to improve the operations of both the Cyril E. King International and Henry E. Rohlsen Airports in St. homas and St. Croix, following a recent ed- ucational immersion at Denver International Airport. Governor Kenneth Mapp, who led the gov- ernment delegation, which included senior officials and the leadership of the Virgin Is- lands Port Authority (VIPA), reported that the visit featured the sharing of intelligence and best practices by the executive team at the country’s sixth busiest airport. In addition to a tour of the airfield and con- trol tower, officials spent an entire day focused on the multiple processes that help the airport deliver more than $26 billion in economic benefits to the state of Colorado. Described by its CEO, Kim Day, as a “complex organism,” the airport processes close to 60 million passen- gers a year, has 35,000 badged employees, and is responsible for 115,000 indirect jobs. The USVI team learned how Denver officials continually invest in the passenger experi- ence, including shopping and dining, technol- ogy, and entertainment. Denver officials also shared details of their capital improvement program to accommodate year-over-year growth, as well as elements of their legal and procurement processes. Improving safety and security, enhancing operational efficiency, up- grading aging systems, and transforming the passenger experience were priorities. Mapp said the “tremendous learning expe- rience” went beyond his expectations – from discovering how the Denver Airport handles issues with its own neighboring landfill, to mitigating the challenges faced by bird strikes, to dealing with regulatory issues and leveraging public-private partnerships. Earlier in the week in Atlanta, the Virgin Islands team, which included additional rep- resentatives from the Waste Management Authority, met with the Federal Aviation Ad- ministration (FAA) to discuss the decades-old regulatory issue concerning the landfill near St. Croix’s airport. “We were heartened to note the similarity of a landfill coexisting within Denver’s airport and the regulatory solution which was arrived at with the FAA. This is an issue the USVI has been trying to resolve since 1983. It has cost us millions of dollars in direct spend and mil-