Passenger traffic set a new record last year at Denver International Airport, recovering to just above pre-pandemic levels as the expanding airport resumes a pattern of breakneck growth.
Nearly 69.3 million people took off, landed or connected on flights through DIA in 2022, which was 0.4% above the previous record of 69 million in 2019. Airport officials had projected a slightly higher total, but traffic was undercut in late December by mass cancellations caused by a sub-zero winter storm and a week of turmoil for Southwest Airlines.
New projections finalized by a DIA consultant in January show that the airport’s major carriers are quickly making use of more than three dozen new gates that have opened in recent years. Looking ahead, the report forecasts DIA will hit 80 million annual passengers by 2025 and 100 million by 2032.
But even more robust growth is possible — exceeding 100 million as soon as 2030 — under a “high case,” according to InterVistas Consulting.
Regardless of the growth to come, city officials on Friday celebrated DIA’s quick recovery. It’s a far cry from 2020, when the pandemic sent passenger traffic down by an unprecedented 51%, to 33.7 million. Last year’s traffic was up 17.8% over 2021, when DIA recorded 59 million passengers.
“Our airport’s recovery in 2022 to pre-pandemic levels of passenger traffic is nothing short of extraordinary, but it exemplifies the importance of DEN as a national and international hub for air service,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said in a news release, referring to DIA by its airport code. “As the largest economic engine in the state, DEN continues to lead Denver and Colorado to new heights.”
The InterVistas report, obtained by The Denver Post last week, projects growth largely in line with its previous update, in August 2020.
But even as air traffic fell during the pandemic, the consultants picked up on accelerating growth potential. Both the 2020 report and InterVistas’ recent Aviation Activity Forecast, the first full study since 2019, project accelerated growth compared to the pre-pandemic trajectory.
For now, DIA’s pandemic recovery has been among the strongest in the world, largely thanks to heavy leisure traffic and its growth as a connecting base for multiple airlines.
In 2021, DIA rose to the third-busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, according to Airports Council International. The airport was on track to continue that distinction as of October, the most recent month with worldwide data available, DIA says, behind No. 1 Atlanta and No. 2 Dallas-Fort Worth.
Before the pandemic, in 2019, DIA ranked 16th on the same worldwide list, and it was the fifth-busiest U.S. airport. Its relative position has improved markedly as large European and Asian airports have lagged in their pandemic recovery.
DIA’s largest carriers last year were United Airlines, at a 46% market share; Southwest Airlines, at 31%; Frontier Airlines, at 10%, Delta Air Lines, at 5%; and American Airlines, at 4%. United, Southwest and Frontier long have been the top three carriers, and DIA says last year marked the busiest ever through Denver for United and Southwest, which have claimed all of the airport’s recent gate expansions.
Last year also set a record for cargo, DIA says, with nearly 724 million pounds carried on jets landing and taking off. That was up 7.7% over 2021.
“The airport benefited from resilient passenger and cargo demand,” airport CEO Phil Washington said in the release. “Additionally, ongoing investment by our airline partners provided the capacity to achieve this new record.”
He referred to “Vision 100,” the airport’s effort to accommodate 100 million passengers in coming years by expanding DIA’s capacity across the airport, from the terminal to the concourses to the runways. The Post found in a report last year that the underground train is a particular chokepoint at busy times, but some relief could come later this year as replacement and expansion cars are delivered.
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