Denver Worldwide Airport soared previous earlier passenger information in 2023, with 77.8 million passengers flying to, from and thru Denver, marking a 12.3% improve over 2022 totals.
Airport officers described 2023 as DIA’s busiest 12 months ever in a news release Wednesday, noting that each month set information by way of passenger site visitors quantity.
It was “a 12 months of extraordinary development,” Chief Govt Officer Phil Washington stated in an announcement.
“…I’m pleased with the airport crew for the ways in which we’ve got adjusted our methods, invested in new applied sciences and labored to satisfy the second whereas additionally persevering with to organize for the longer term,” Washington stated.
Denver Worldwide Airport’s standing as one of many busiest airports on the earth is unlikely to alter, in response to airport officers, with 2023 information by way of October from Airports Council Worldwide displaying DIA because the third-busiest airport in the US and fifth-busiest on the earth. Full-year information is predicted within the spring.
July was the primary month DIA has ever served greater than 7 million passengers and now ranks because the airport’s busiest month ever, in response to a information launch, with October and August rating because the second- and third-busiest months and in addition exceeding 7 million passengers.
It was additionally the primary 12 months Denver Worldwide Airport surpassed 4 million annual worldwide passengers, an almost 22% improve from 2022.
Denver’s largest carriers, United and Southwest, additionally set all-time passenger information in 2023. United reported greater than 36 million passengers whereas Southwest served 24 million, in response to the airport.
Frontier Airways got here in third, serving 7.5 million passengers in 2023.
Final 12 months’s growth in passengers is essentially as a consequence of extra folks connecting by way of Denver, airport officers stated Wednesday.
Whereas the quantity of people that flew by way of DIA as their level of origin or vacation spot was primarily flat in comparison with 2019 numbers, passengers who related by way of the airport elevated by practically 36%.
Passenger site visitors is predicted to continue to grow and will exceed 100 million passengers yearly by 2030, in response to earlier projections from an airport advisor.
Washington referenced DIA’s “Imaginative and prescient 100” strategic plan on Wednesday, the identify for the airport’s effort to accommodate 100 million annual passengers within the coming years.
“It’s incumbent upon us to make sure the airport’s infrastructure can proceed to accommodate the expansion we count on,” he stated.
Within the first month of 2024, that’s already included a brand new 17-lane safety checkpoint and a brand new airline saying a brand new nonstop flight to Rhode Island.