When Denver International Airport opened 22 years ago, it did so, to ridicule, 18 months behind schedule and 50 percent over budget. More recently, and to lesser extent, rising costs bedeviled DIA’s new hotel and transit center. Such history is worth keeping in mind when considering the airport’s plan to enlist a private firm to help it avoid similar embarrassments in its proposed massive redevelopment.

Kim Day, DIA’s chief executive, tells us she is ready to spend more than $1 billion on the redo. She wishes to hire Madrid-based Ferrovial Airports – known for its work in turning around London’s Heathrow Airport – for a public-private partnership that also would see Ferrovial managing a greatly expanded concessions area for 30 years.

Full details of the contract remain in flux, as officials on both sides engage in negotiations. But what we’ve seen so far of plans Day is touting to Denver City Council members strikes us as worthy of serious consideration. Of course, we should all await judgment until the final contract is available to review.

Read more at The Denver Post.