Denver International Airport Sees Continued Passenger Traffic Recovery

In the first half of 2022 DEN served nearly 32.2 million passengers, just 1.6% below the first half of 2019

DENVER – July 28, 2022 – Denver International Airport (DEN) today published passenger traffic data through June 2022. For the first half of 2022, DEN served 32,171,152 passengers, an increase of 30.2% as compared to the first half of 2021 and a decline of just 1.6% as compared to the first half of 2019.

DEN’s passenger traffic recovery ranks amongst the top when compared to peer large-hub airports, buoyed by both strong demand for travel to and from Denver as well as a high volume of connecting passengers. For the year-to-date period through April 2022, the most recent data available from Airports Council International, DEN maintains the ranking of the third-busiest airport in the world, behind only Atlanta (ATL) and Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW).

“Through continued investment by our airline partners, DEN’s passenger traffic growth remains strong as we work to return to pre-pandemic passenger levels,” said DEN CEO Phil Washington. “We are optimistic about our passenger growth for the remainder of the year and expect to finish close to or slightly above our 2019 record of 69 million passengers. As we welcome back more passengers, we remain focused on ensuring a positive customer experience for our passengers and sustainably expanding our facility as we approach historic levels of demand.”

In three of the first six months of 2022 – February, March and April – DEN passenger traffic exceeded the volume for the same month in 2019. Overall, domestic passenger volume decreased by 1.5% in the first half of 2022 as compared to the same period in 2019. International passenger traffic volume has improved markedly, recording just a 4.0% decline in the first half of 2022 versus the first half of 2019. Notably, June 2022 was the busiest month ever for international passenger traffic at DEN.

Origination and destination (O&D) passengers made up 59.2% of DEN’s total passengers in the first half of 2022, 5.3 points lower than the same period in 2019. Correspondingly, connecting passengers increased from 35.5% of total passengers in the first half of 2019 to reach 40.8% of DEN’s total passengers in the first half of 2022.

United ranks as DEN’s largest carrier and captured 47.2% of total DEN passengers in the first half of 2022. Southwest is DEN’s second-largest carrier with 30.2% market share followed by Frontier in third place with 9.1% market share.

DEN’s air service network also continues to recover. Entering the second half of 2022, three new domestic destinations are a part of DEN’s nonstop network. In addition, competitive service is operating to seven additional markets, five domestic and two international. To close out the first half of the year, DEN’s domestic network included nonstop flights to 189 destinations in 46 states and ranked as the second-largest domestic air service network in the U.S. In total, DEN airline partners offered nonstop flights to 214 destinations across 13 countries in the first half of 2022.

DEN total cargo volume exceeded 340 million pounds in the first half of 2022. This represents an increase of 6.7% as compared to the first half of 2019, led by growth in volume transported by cargo carriers of 13.6% over this period.

Denver International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. DEN is the primary economic engine for the state of Colorado, generating more than $36 billion for the region annually. For more information visit www.FlyDenver.com, check us out on YouTube and Instagram, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Sign up for DEN’s monthly newsletter Nonstop News.

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