Final yr was Denver Worldwide Airport’s busiest on file.
Whereas airline shares have but to totally get better to pre-pandemic ranges, passengers have returned in droves — and hundreds of thousands of them are flying by the Colorado hub.
“We are going to finish 2023 a lot increased than our forecast at about 78 million passengers yearly,” stated Phil Washington, CEO of the Denver Worldwide Airport. “So this has been large progress.”
The airport, generally known as DIA to Colorado locals, opened in 1995. It was initially constructed to deal with 50 million passengers per yr, however now that quantity is anticipated to achieve greater than 100 million folks per yr by 2027, in line with DIA estimates.
OAG, a worldwide journey information supplier, stated Denver went from the twenty first busiest airport on the earth in 2019 to the sixth in 2023.
United Airways is Denver’s greatest operator with 46.7% market share, adopted by Southwest at 30.7% and Frontier Airways at 9.7%, in line with DIA.
The midcontinent airport has grow to be United’s busiest hub. It lately invested practically $1 billion in Denver so as to add extra gates, flights and locations, and opened the most important lounge in its community.
“About 60% of our clients are connecting from different locations. Forty % of our clients are native Denver, and it is a quick rising metropolis,” stated Jonna McGrath, vp of Denver Airport operations for United Airways. “We wish to develop earlier than 2030 to about 650 flights a day.”
CNBC acquired a behind-the-scenes have a look at United’s Denver operations and explored how the airport and the airline plan to maintain up with demand.
Watch the video to be taught extra.