From the recent blizzard in Colorado, anyone know if there are penalties to an airport that closes due to weather? Screers are taking a hit in DEN after 160 of them couldnt make it in to work. I was wondering what the reason is that they never formally closed the airport that day even though no flights could get in or out for over 7 hours.

I thought that Pena's Folly was built so that it would never be impacted by bad weather the way Stapleton was plagued by snow.

What exactly are you asking? Are screeners being punished for failing to come to work? AFAIK, airports are not punished for closing due to bad weather.

There are no penalties to the airport for closing, however the one and only time that I can recall DEN closing due to weather, some folks were looking for new jobs. DIA was built, as was stated above, so that the airport in Denver would no longer be plagued by weather delays. When the airport manager decided to close for weather, lots of people demanded answers as to why the airport was built in the first place claiming the city and county of Denver defrauded the public. Since that time, they have not closed the airport, instead they close Pena Blvd, the only public access road into the airport, but they never close the airport. They will always keep one CATIII runway open and available, although nobody will use it.

To my knowledge, there are no monetary penalties imposed on an airport if it shuts down.... but in Denver's case, there are "political" penalties involved. This airport is supposed to be invulnerable to weather, but so was the Titanic and look what happened to that.

The politicans (managers) involved would rather keep the airport open but shut down the road leading into and out of it, blaming that on weather and the DOT.

Sadly, airport workers who are paid hourly are the ones hit in the pocketbooks.