The prospect of United Airlines moving its headquarters to Denver is exciting, for sure, but we’ll wait to order the champagne and balloons.
Denver has danced this dance before. The city has wined and dined would-be suitors – United once before, and Boeing – and laid out lavish incentives, including millions in tax breaks, only to be left like a jilted lover at the altar. Too often, Colorado officials trip over themselves in a rush to give away the store, only to find some other city upping the ante.
United has been an integral part of the Chicago area for more than four decades, and that city will battle to keep the airline from moving its suburban headquarters, and some 350 employees, to the Mile High City.
Of course, Mayor John Hickenlooper announced Thursday that the city, state and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. could put together “a very powerful package” to lure United here. “We’re going to throw everything at it we can,” the mayor said.
We would expect Denver’s mayor to do nothing less, though we’re skeptical United wants to leave Chicago and could be using the possibility to prod that city into a nice package. In 1991, Colorado officials offered United more than $300 million to build a maintenance center in Denver but eventually lost out to Indianapolis. (The center was built but later closed in a cost-cutting move.) In 2001, Denver made a high-stakes play for Boeing’s headquarters. The city and state offered $28 million in tax breaks but lost out to Chicago.
United’s move here would bring well-paying jobs and also could raise Denver’s profile as a potential headquarters city for other companies.
“This would be exactly the kind of employer we would like to see here. … It would be a very, very happy day in Colorado,” said Tom Clark of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
United, which employs 57,000 people, ranks 124th on the Fortune 500 list of top U.S. companies, with annual revenues of $17.38 billion. Qwest, Colorado’s largest company in terms of revenues, ranks 160th.
United, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, uses Denver International Airport for one of its largest hubs and has more than 5,000 employees here. United employs about 16,000 people in Chicago.
We would be delighted if United chose to relocate its headquarters here. We’d be equally pleased if it could be lured with a responsible incentive package.
