Airport official: replacement for United may be necessary DENVER (AP) =97 A Denver International Airport official says business= leaders=20 might consider airline subsidies, guaranteed purchases of blocks of seats=20 and other economic incentives to lure another airline if United Airlines=20 folds. Denver Aviation Manager Bruce Baumgartner said he is not predicting=20 United's liquidation, but added it's prudent that the airport and business= =20 leaders consider the worst-case scenario. Speaking Friday to the Denver=20 Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors=20 Bureau, Baumgartner said Denver would need to find another carrier fast.=20 "The longer that period would go on, the greater the impact to the regional= =20 and state economy," Baumgartner said. Colorado officials might try to entice Delta Air Lines to move its hub from= =20 Salt Lake City or get Continental Airlines to substitute Denver for its hub= =20 in Cleveland, said Walter Isenberg, president of a Denver hotel company and= =20 chairman of the convention and visitors bureau. Northwest Airlines would be= =20 another candidate for locating a hub at Denver, Isenberg said. Local=20 leaders also would nurture the expansion of existing Denver carriers,=20 including Frontier Airlines, if United disappeared, he said. Salt Lake City= =20 officials said they would aggressively fight any effort to take their=20 airline business. "In these uncertain times, all of our air service is=20 essential," said Barbara Gann, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake airport. "We=20 are working hard at retaining what we have and attracting new airlines." United filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. In the past= =20 month, the airline won wage and benefit concessions from its labor unions=20 worth about $2.5 billion a year =97 a major step in the company's effort to= =20 reorganize and successfully emerge from bankruptcy. Aviation analysts=20 recognize the progress United has made but warn of its vulnerability in the= =20 stagnant U.S. economy and the reduction in international travel caused by=20 fears over severe acute respiratory syndrome. *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************