Denver supports United but makes backup plans DENVER (AP) =97 City officials are talking to other airlines to devise a=20 backup plan in case United Airlines should fail or emerge from bankruptcy=20 as a smaller carrier. "As much as you cheer for United, you have to play=20 the what-if game," Mayor Wellington Webb said Monday. Webb said his goal is= =20 to find at least one carrier willing to make Denver a hub. "We believe the= =20 geographic location of Denver makes it a prime location for another=20 airline," Webb said. Denver Aviation Director Bruce Baumgartner and=20 economic development chief Ron Bernstein were in Houston on Monday to meet= =20 with executives of Continental Airlines, whose chief executive has=20 expressed an interest in expanding in Denver. Webb met with Frontier=20 Airlines CEO Jeff Potter last week. City officials also plan to talk to=20 Delta, Northwest and American airlines, Webb said, even as they support=20 United's effort to emerge from bankruptcy. "Every day that goes by makes=20 those contingency plans moot," said United spokesman Chris Brathwaite,=20 "because we are taking significant steps forward in our reorganization."=20 United accounts for nearly two-thirds of the traffic at Denver=20 International Airport. United has strusk agreements with four of its six unions to help reduce=20 expenses, but the war in Iraq and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory= =20 syndrome, or SARS, have cut air travel. Airline bond analyst Philip=20 Baggaley of Standard & Poor's said recently that United could default on=20 its bankruptcy loans by the end of May, if not sooner. Denver officials=20 would not provide specifics on results of talks with airlines. "It was a=20 matter of the city wanting to learn more about our plans and how we might=20 fill in if there were opportunities created by United failing," Frontier=20 spokeswoman Elise Eberwein said. Frontier would like to get more gate space= =20 on Concourse A to accommodate additional flights, but it can't because=20 United holds those gates, she said. Continental declined to comment.=20 Airline analyst Michael Boyd said the city's success in getting other=20 carriers to step in would depend on the airlines' need for DIA. "There are= =20 airlines that already have plans," Boyd said. "It is a thinly veiled secret= =20 that Continental has a great interest." Even if replacements step in, DIA=20 would still see only a fraction of the 400 flights United provided, Boyd=20 said. He said few airlines have the financial strength to add capacity in=20 this market but that some might take advantage of a vacuum in Denver, if=20 one appears. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************