From Success at Southwest to Directing Denver International Airport: Dave LaPorte’s Aviation Operations Pathway
Dave LaPorte is the poster child for the adage that it always seems darkest before the dawn.
Now, the man responsible for keeping Denver's international airport operating at peak efficiency, the WMU alumnus actually has two "darkest" on his resume.
The native Michigander was serving in a management position for Southwest Airlines at the Manchester airport in New Hampshire when those four passenger jets were hijacked and crashed the nation into a severe panic in September of 2001. Later, he was on the Denver airport's senior leadership staff when the aviation industry was confronted by the Covid 19 pandemic.
"Navigating the 9/11 crisis was a nerve-wracking time in the aviation business," LaPorte says, "but I learned lessons that I will never forget." The same happened 184 years later when, as part of airport operations in Denver, he had to navigate through the facility's response to Covid.
The 1985 graduate of Brother Rice High School in Birmingham on the east side of his home state enrolled in Western's program in aviation technology with a dream of becoming a professional pilot.
"As luck would have it," he recalls, "Eastern Airlines, Pan Am and Midway Airlines all went out of business in the late 1980s and early '90s. There were unemployed pilots everywhere and I realized that I would not be able to compete with pilots who already had experience."
That perspective led him to go to work for Southwest at Chicago's Midway Airport. "At the time," he says, "Southwest was growing fast and there was a lot of opportunity. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life."
Another pivotal point was the brutally cold winter of 1994 in Chicago when it dawned on him that mostly-outdoor work was more than challenging. LaPorte signed up for Southwest's Operations Department, which took him inside. "I was promoted to the post of operations agent where I gained invaluable information about how an airline works," he says. Within a year, he was in a supervisory position where he "learned how to lead" because the airline "invested heavily in leadership training."
By 1997, LaPorte was part of the airline's Quality Support Team. While still based in Chicago, his duties took him to 10 airports in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Two years later, he had the opportunity to polish his leadership skills during an 18-month stint as a manager for Southwest's operations based at the Tampa, Fla., airport. Next came the station-manager job in New Hampshire, which he called home until 2005.
When Southwest announced that year it would be restarting its service in Denver, LaPorte said, "it was a big deal with lots of excitement within the company. Southwest had operated at Denver's Stapleton Airport, but pulled out because it did not support the construction of Denver International Airport, vowing that it would never return to Colorado's biggest community. But things change. Southwest had grown to the point where Denver made sense strategically."
Being appointed station manager there was strategic for LaPorte as well. "We began service in January of 2006 with 13 flights per day," he says. "By June of 2012, we had grown to 175 flights per day. That was a very rapid expansion and, while it was fun, it wore me out. I needed a change."
That came in July of 2012 when he was named the public airport's deputy manager of aviation, which oversaw the maintenance and engineering division and environmental services. Next on his resume from 2015 to 2023 were duties in "airport operations" that expanded his familiarity with the gamut of functions required at a major aviation facility.
In 2024, LaPorte was appointed the airport's chief operating officer after one year with the deputy title. He is responsible for airport maintenance, airport operations, parking, commercial transportation, asset management and technical operations.
"My role is exciting," he says. "No two days are ever the same. It is an exciting place to be. We are preparing our airport to reach 100 million passengers annually and expect to be there by the end of the 2020s."
The irony is that LaPorte is not a product of the WMU College of Aviation per se. He recalls that he cast his fate to become a Bronco "the minute I stepped on campus. I knew that Western would be my choice. I loved the atmosphere. The school just felt good for me."
While he was in the aviation-technology program at first, those studies were shelved when he signed on with Southwest in Chicago. "Because of that," he says, "it took me some time to graduate. My degree is in university studies."
Two incidents channeled him to the College of Aviation in the first place. His grandfather owned a Beechcraft Bonanza and often took young LaPorte on flights. "I was always amazed at his discipline and desire for perfection when he flew," he says. In 1976, his parents took him to an aerial display by the Air Force's Thunderbirds. "I was overwhelmed watching what those pilots could do with an aircraft. At the same show, there was a Harrier demonstration. I was shocked to see an aircraft hover."
LaPorte has witnessed that level of precision flight, the results of NASA's Apollo program, and the Space Shuttle era. "I have enjoyed seeing those kinds of advancements," he says, "but my best memories come from our bad days. Things go wrong sometimes, and I enjoy watching my well-trained team respond. It always provides an opportunity to learn and get better."
Everybody has long-term goals, but LaPorte believes he's already there. "I absolutely love my job," he says. "I am on the backside of my career, and I don't see me doing anything else. I like where I am. The best thing for me are the people. I love being a part of the best airport team in the world. The second-best thing is variability. We get involved in such a variety of issues. It never gets boring."
LaPorte also admits to getting a few things wrong. "I have had many failures," he says. "I have made many mistakes along the way, but I have tried to learn from them and move on." And he's not afraid to talk about that aspect of his career when speaking to WMU students and at events around the country, and the world.
He and his wife of 30 years, Melina, who is a special-education teacher, are the parents of son Jonah and daughter Spencer. His career has taken him to all 50 states and to three of his favorite places -- Israel, Dubai and Germany. Recent destinations for the couple have included Italy, Greece and Malta.
In addition to traveling as a favorite activity, LaPorte says "it's kind of funny, but my hobby is to collect hobbies. I love learning new things. I will get obsessed with something for about a year before I move on to something else."
But what he is always obsessed with has been his career path. "It's important to remember that life isn't about getting to a destination. The journey is always the fun part."