Airport Statistics Updated November 2026

Human Written & Fact Checked · Updated

179 Denver Airport Statistics for 2026

Denver International Airport (DEN) handled 82,427,962 passengers in 2025 on the City of Denver's count of passengers arriving and departing, almost exactly as many as in 2024. ACI World ranked it 10th in the world for passengers and 4th for aircraft movements, and United and its regional partner carried 50.3% of the passengers who boarded there.

This page brings together the main figures on Denver: passengers by year, passengers boarding, connecting and international traffic, destinations, airlines, flights, cargo, world and US rankings, TSA screening and guns, the size of the airport, the A Line train, jobs, the airport's money and what is being built. Every number links to the body that published it, with the date.

Denver figures come on different bases. The City counts passengers arriving and departing, and separately passengers boarding; the FAA counts passengers boarding by calendar year; TSA counts people screened at checkpoints, crew included. Flights and cargo are also counted several ways. Each figure says what it counts and who counted it, and figures on different bases are not compared.

Headline figures

How many passengers use Denver Airport each year?

Denver now handles far more passengers than it did before the pandemic. Its traffic halved in 2020, passed the 2019 level in 2022 and was almost flat between 2024 and 2025.

58.3m 2016 61.4m 2017 64.5m 2018 69.0m 2019 33.7m 2020 58.8m 2021 69.3m 2022 77.8m 2023 82.4m 2024 82.4m 2025
View data table
Passengers at Denver each year, arriving and departing, in millions, on the City of Denver's count from the Department of Aviation.
PeriodValue
201658.3m
201761.4m
201864.5m
201969.0m
202033.7m
202158.8m
202269.3m
202377.8m
202482.4m
202582.4m
Passengers at Denver each year, arriving and departing, in millions, on the City of Denver's count from the Department of Aviation. (City and County of Denver (2025 ACFR), 2026)

These are total passengers, enplaned and deplaned, from the City's annual financial reports, which take them from the Department of Aviation. Years are calendar years. The 2006 to 2011 figures are rounded in the source.

How many passengers board flights at Denver?

About 41 million passengers a year now board flights at Denver on the City's count, against roughly 26 million in the early 2010s. Boardings are about half of total passengers, since most people also arrive at the airport.

26.5m 2011 26.6m 2012 26.3m 2013 26.7m 2014 27.0m 2015 29.1m 2016 30.7m 2017 32.3m 2018 34.5m 2019 16.9m 2020 29.4m 2021 34.6m 2022 38.9m 2023 41.1m 2024 41.2m 2025
View data table
Passengers boarding flights at Denver (enplaned passengers) each year, in millions, on the City's count. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.
PeriodValue
201126.5m
201226.6m
201326.3m
201426.7m
201527.0m
201629.1m
201730.7m
201832.3m
201934.5m
202016.9m
202129.4m
202234.6m
202338.9m
202441.1m
202541.2m
Passengers boarding flights at Denver (enplaned passengers) each year, in millions, on the City's count. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

Enplaned passengers come from the Department of Aviation through the City's annual bond disclosure statements (2016, 2021 and 2026 editions); the 2016 edition revised the 2013 figure. The FAA publishes its own count of passengers boarding, shown in the rankings section below; the two counts differ and are not compared.

How many Denver passengers are changing planes?

Denver is becoming more of a connecting hub. The share of passengers changing planes there has risen every year since 2022, and in 2025 local traffic fell while connecting traffic grew.

44.8% 2011 44.4% 2012 41.7% 2013 39.4% 2014 35.8% 2015 36.4% 2016 36.0% 2017 35.7% 2018 35.5% 2019 40.5% 2020 41.1% 2021 41.1% 2022 42.8% 2023 44.6% 2024 46.0% 2025
View data table
Share of passengers boarding at Denver who were connecting to another flight, in per cent, on the City's figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.
PeriodValue
201144.8%
201244.4%
201341.7%
201439.4%
201535.8%
201636.4%
201736.0%
201835.7%
201935.5%
202040.5%
202141.1%
202241.1%
202342.8%
202444.6%
202546.0%
Share of passengers boarding at Denver who were connecting to another flight, in per cent, on the City's figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

Shares are of enplaned passengers, from the Department of Aviation via the City's disclosure statements. Local (origin and destination) passengers start or finish their air journey at Denver; connecting passengers change planes there.

How many Denver passengers fly international?

Denver is overwhelmingly a domestic airport, but the international share of its passengers has risen every year since 2020. The number of international destinations has also risen since 2022.

  • Domestic 77,560,478
  • International 4,867,484
Denver's 2025 passengers split into domestic and international, arriving and departing, on ACI-NA's figures. (ACI-NA (2025 traffic summary), Jul 2026)

ACI-NA counts passengers arriving and departing. The shares in the stats are of enplaned passengers, from the City's disclosure statements, and are not compared with the ACI-NA split.

How many destinations can you fly to from Denver?

A destination counts if it had regularly scheduled service at some point in the year, so not every route runs all year. The 2026 and 2027 figures are City estimates and plans.

Which airlines carry the most passengers at Denver?

United dominates Denver, Southwest is a strong second and Frontier a distant third. Southwest and Frontier both lost market share there in 2025 while United gained.

  1. 1 United 41.3%
  2. 2 Southwest 29.1%
  3. 3 Frontier 9.3%
  4. 4 United Express 9.0%
  5. 5 Delta 4.0%
  6. 6 Other 3.9%
  7. 7 American 3.4%
Share of passengers boarding at Denver by airline in 2025, in per cent, on the City's figures. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

Airline figures are enplaned passengers from the Department of Aviation, as published in the City's disclosure statements. United Express flights are run by regional airlines for United. The 2026 edition notes corrections to some older airline tables, so figures from different editions are given separately.

How many airlines fly from Denver?

The disclosure statement counts regional airlines flying for larger carriers separately, so other counts of Denver airlines are lower.

How big are the airlines' bases at Denver?

How many flights does Denver handle?

Denver's flight numbers have climbed every year since 2020 on the City's count, after a long fall in the early 2010s. Most are airline flights, and United and Southwest run most of the daily departures.

634,680 2011 618,257 2012 586,860 2013 575,161 2014 547,648 2015 572,520 2016 582,486 2017 603,403 2018 640,098 2019 442,571 2020 593,916 2021 615,733 2022 662,010 2023 694,900 2024 705,469 2025
View data table
Aircraft operations (landings and take-offs) at Denver each year, in thousands, on the City's figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.
PeriodValue
2011634,680
2012618,257
2013586,860
2014575,161
2015547,648
2016572,520
2017582,486
2018603,403
2019640,098
2020442,571
2021593,916
2022615,733
2023662,010
2024694,900
2025705,469
Aircraft operations (landings and take-offs) at Denver each year, in thousands, on the City's figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

Operations, departures and landed weight are the Department of Aviation's figures from the City's disclosure statements. ACI World and ACI-NA publish a different count of aircraft movements for Denver, shown in the rankings sections; the two are not compared. Landed weight is the maximum landing weight of all aircraft and is the basis for landing fees. The FAA capacity figures date from 2014.

How much cargo does Denver handle?

Denver is a modest cargo airport for its size, and most of its freight is domestic. Cargo volumes have changed little in recent years, while the weight of cargo-only aircraft landing there has fallen since 2021.

  • Domestic freight 269,077 t
  • International freight 36,579 t
  • Mail 26,571 t
Cargo handled at Denver in 2025 by type, in metric tonnes, on ACI-NA's figures (freight and mail, inbound and outbound). (ACI-NA (2025 traffic summary), Jul 2026)

Four cargo measures appear here and none is compared with another: ACI-NA's metric tonnes of freight and mail; the City's pounds of cargo handled; the City's outbound (enplaned) cargo in pounds; and the FAA's all-cargo landed weight, the maximum landing weight of cargo-only aircraft, which leaves out freight carried in passenger aircraft.

Where does Denver rank among the world's airports?

Denver is one of the world's busiest airports on both passengers and flights, but it slipped down the passenger table in 2025 as its traffic barely changed. On flights, only three airports handle more.

  1. 1 Atlanta 106,302,208
  2. 2 Dubai 95,192,160
  3. 3 Tokyo Haneda 91,679,814
  4. 4 Dallas/Fort Worth 85,660,127
  5. 5 Shanghai Pudong 84,994,548
  6. 6 Chicago O'Hare 84,856,018
  7. 7 London Heathrow 84,482,126
  8. 8 Istanbul 84,437,710
  9. 9 Guangzhou 83,582,952
  10. 10 Denver 82,427,962
  11. 11 New Delhi 78,148,081
  12. 12 Seoul Incheon 74,126,912
The world's 12 busiest airports by passengers in 2025, in millions, arriving and departing, on ACI World's final figures. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Denver ranked 6th in the world for passengers in 2024 and 16th in 2019; its 2025 total was 0.1% above 2024 and 19.4% above 2019. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Denver's aircraft movements rose 1.7% on 2024 and 11.0% on 2019; it was 4th for movements in 2024 and 5th in 2019. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Chicago O'Hare had the most movements in 2025 with 857,392, then Atlanta with 807,625 and Dallas/Fort Worth with 743,394; Las Vegas was 5th with 586,871. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Los Angeles, 13th in 2025 with 73,709,594 passengers, was 16.3% below its 2019 level, and Atlanta 3.8% below. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Air travel worldwide reached 9.8 billion passengers in 2025, and the 20 busiest airports handled 1.59 billion of them, 16%. (ACI World (2025 rankings), Jul 2026)
  • Of Denver's 2025 movements, 680,001 were passenger and combi flights, 18,032 all-cargo flights and 3,302 general aviation, military and other flights. (ACI-NA (2025 traffic summary), Jul 2026)

ACI World counts total passengers, enplaned and deplaned, with transit passengers counted once, and aircraft movements (take-offs and landings of all kinds). Its movement count for Denver differs from the City's count of operations, and the two are not compared.

Where does Denver rank among US airports?

Denver is one of the four busiest airports in North America, and it has been in the FAA's top six for passengers boarding every year since 2013. It moved up the US table during the pandemic and has stayed in the top four since.

  1. 1 Atlanta 106,302,208
  2. 2 Dallas/Fort Worth 85,660,127
  3. 3 Chicago O'Hare 84,856,018
  4. 4 Denver 82,427,962
  5. 5 Los Angeles 73,709,594
  6. 6 New York JFK 62,629,455
  7. 7 Orlando 57,675,573
  8. 8 Miami 55,314,661
  9. 9 Las Vegas 55,030,375
  10. 10 San Francisco 54,532,613
North America's ten busiest airports by passengers in 2025, in millions, arriving and departing, on ACI-NA's figures. (ACI-NA (2025 rankings release), Jul 2026)
  • ACI-NA ranked Denver 4th in North America for both passengers and aircraft movements in 2025. (ACI-NA (2025 rankings release), Jul 2026)
  • In 2024 Denver was 3rd in North America with 82,358,744 passengers, up 5.8%, and 4th for movements with 689,368, up 4.9%. (ACI-NA (2024 rankings release), Jul 2025)
  • Atlanta led North America in 2025 with 106,302,208 passengers, down 1.6%; Dallas/Fort Worth had 85,660,127, down 2.5%, and Chicago O'Hare 84,856,018, up 6.0%. (ACI-NA (2025 rankings release), Jul 2026)
  • New York JFK was 6th in North America with 62,629,455 passengers, Orlando 7th with 57,675,573, Miami 8th with 55,314,661, Las Vegas 9th with 55,030,375 and San Francisco 10th with 54,532,613. (ACI-NA (2025 rankings release), Jul 2026)
  • The FAA ranked Denver 3rd in the US in 2024 with 40,012,895 passengers boarding, behind Atlanta (52,511,402) and Dallas-Fort Worth (42,351,316) and ahead of Chicago O'Hare (38,575,693). (FAA (2024 enplanements), Sep 2025)
  • Denver was 4th in 2023 with 37,863,967 passengers boarding, up 12.11%. (FAA (2023 enplanements), Oct 2024)
  • It was 3rd in 2022 with 33,773,832, up 17.90%. (FAA (2022 enplanements), Sep 2023)
  • Denver was 3rd in 2021 with 28,645,527, behind Atlanta (36,676,010) and Dallas-Fort Worth (30,005,266). (FAA (2021 enplanements), Sep 2022)
  • In 2020 Denver rose to 3rd with 16,243,216 passengers boarding, down 51.65% on 2019. (FAA (2020 enplanements), Nov 2021)
  • Denver was 5th in 2019 with 33,592,945, up 7.11% on the 31,362,941 of 2018. (FAA (2019 enplanements), Sep 2020)
  • It was 5th in 2017 with 29,809,097, after 28,267,394 in 2016. (FAA (2017 enplanements), Nov 2018)
  • It was 6th in 2015 with 26,280,043, after 26,000,591 in 2014. (FAA (2015 enplanements), Oct 2016)
  • Denver was 5th in 2013 with 25,496,885 passengers boarding. (FAA (2013 enplanements), Jan 2015)

ACI-NA counts total passengers, arriving and departing. The FAA ranks US airports by enplanements, revenue passengers boarding, by calendar year, using its own data; its figures differ from the City's count of passengers boarding and are not compared with it. Each FAA rank is printed in that year's file.

How busy is security at Denver Airport?

TSA screens more than 24 million people a year at Denver, and its busiest days all fall in summer or on holiday weekends. Denver is also one of the US airports where TSA finds the most guns in carry-on bags.

126 2018 140 2019 104 2020 141 2021 156 2022 178 2023
View data table
Guns found by TSA in carry-on bags at Denver checkpoints each year, from TSA's Denver release.
PeriodValue
2018126
2019140
2020104
2021141
2022156
2023178
Guns found by TSA in carry-on bags at Denver checkpoints each year, from TSA's Denver release. (TSA (Denver firearms release, 2023), Jan 2024)

TSA counts people screened at checkpoints, departing passengers and crew, which is a different figure from passengers boarding. Gun counts cover firearms found in carry-on bags at checkpoints, not other prohibited items.

How many guns does TSA find at Denver?

  • TSA found 178 guns at Denver in 2023, a record for the fourth year running and the 6th most in the US; 90% were loaded, and the rate was 7.6 per million people screened. (TSA (Denver firearms release, 2023), Jan 2024)
  • In 2022 TSA found 156 guns at Denver, 7th in the US, a rate of 7.3 per million screened, or one for every 137,175 travellers. (TSA (Denver firearms release, 2022), Jan 2023)
  • TSA found 141 guns at Denver in 2021, 6th in the US; nationwide it found 5,972 at 268 airports. (TSA (Denver firearms release, 2021), Jan 2022)

How big is Denver Airport?

Denver is a very large airport site, with room for new runways and commercial development. It has six runways, and early planning for another has begun.

Sources give different figures for the airport's area in acres and for its distance from downtown Denver, so neither is shown. The size and runway descriptions are the words of the Auditor and CDOT.

How do passengers get to Denver Airport?

The A Line commuter train links the airport with downtown Denver, and in 2025 it was RTD's most used rail line. Rental car customers pay a daily charge towards a planned consolidated rental car centre.

  • The A Line has carried more than 59,400,000 boardings since it opened in April 2016, and its use in 2025 surpassed that of every other RTD rail service. (RTD (A Line 10-year release), Apr 2026)
  • A Line ridership rose 4.3% in 2025, the largest rise of any RTD commuter rail line, and boardings from January 2025 to February 2026 totalled 7,166,178. (RTD (A Line 10-year release), Apr 2026)
  • The 23-mile line runs at up to 79 mph and takes 37 minutes from Union Station, with trains every 15 minutes from 6 am to 8 pm and every 30 minutes at other times. (RTD (A Line 10-year release), Apr 2026)
  • A Line trains were on time 90% of the time in 2025 and 91% in March 2026, and 97.7% of scheduled trips ran in 2025; a $10 Airport Day Pass covers a full day of travel. (RTD (A Line 10-year release), Apr 2026)
  • The A Line reached 50 million customers by 16 July 2024; it is run by Denver Transit Partners under a 34-year concession. (RTD (A Line anniversary facts), Apr 2026)
  • RTD's whole network had 64.2 million boardings in 2025, against over 100 million in 2019. (City and County of Denver (2025 Economic and Demographic Report), Jul 2026)
  • RTD boardings fell 0.3% in 2025; RTD says a change in how it counts A Line riders lifted its figures in the second half of the year. (RTD (preliminary 2025 results), 2026)
  • Since 1 September 2024 rental car customers at Denver have paid a facility charge of $10.00 per rental day. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

A Line boardings count riders getting on at every station on the line, in both directions, including the airport. RTD changed its A Line counting method in 2025, so the 2025 growth is not fully like-for-like.

How many jobs does Denver Airport support?

Denver's economic weight reaches well beyond the airport fence: CDOT counts wages, supplier spending and visitor spending across Colorado. United and Southwest are among the Denver area's largest private employers.

  • On-airport activities $28.8bn
  • Visitor spending $18.4bn
Business revenues in Colorado linked to Denver Airport in 2023, in billions of dollars, split by where the money was spent, on CDOT's estimate. (CDOT Aeronautics (2025 economic impact study: DEN report), Feb 2025)

CDOT's figures are modelled totals for 2023, including supplier spending and the re-spending of wages, and count full- and part-time jobs; totals may not add up because of rounding. The City staff figure covers only city employees in the airport system, not the airlines, TSA or shops.

How does Denver Airport make its money?

Denver pays its own way from airline rents and fees, parking, shops and passenger charges, and receives little in government grants. Its revenue and its spending have both grown as traffic has recovered.

  1. 1 Facility rentals $472.0m
  2. 2 Parking $249.3m
  3. 3 Landing fees $231.5m
  4. 4 Investment income $190.2m
  5. 5 Passenger facility charges $154.2m
  6. 6 Concessions $142.0m
  7. 7 Customer facility charges $83.7m
  8. 8 Hotel $77.5m
  9. 9 Car rental $77.3m
  10. 10 Aviation fuel tax $33.5m
  11. 11 Ground transportation $27.4m
  12. 12 Other non-operating $27.1m
  13. 13 Other sales and charges $6.6m
Denver Airport revenue by source in 2025, in millions of dollars, on the City's budget basis. (City and County of Denver (2027 proposed budget), Oct 2026)

The budget book reports on the City's budget basis; the ACFR and the disclosure statement's condensed accounts use accounting (GAAP) rules, so their totals differ slightly and are not compared. Thousands are as printed in the source tables.

How much debt does Denver Airport have?

Debt service coverage is net revenue divided by debt service; the budget figure leaves out customer facility charge funds. The 2026 figure is an estimate.

How much do airlines pay to use Denver Airport?

Flying from Denver has become much more expensive for airlines since 2023, and the City expects the cost to keep rising. Airline payments to the airport rose by a quarter in 2024 alone.

$10.33 2019 $19.96 2020 $10.60 2021 $10.65 2022 $10.75 2023 $12.80 2024 $15.73 2025
View data table
Cost per boarding passenger paid by airlines at Denver each year, in dollars, on the City's budget figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one.
PeriodValue
2019$10.33
2020$19.96
2021$10.60
2022$10.65
2023$10.75
2024$12.80
2025$15.73
Cost per boarding passenger paid by airlines at Denver each year, in dollars, on the City's budget figures. Each year comes from the release for that year; the link is to the latest one. (City and County of Denver (2027 proposed budget), Oct 2026)

The cost per boarding passenger is what airlines pay towards the airport's operating costs, debt service and other capital costs, divided by enplaned passengers; the newest budget edition is used for each year. Concession spending is the amount spent per boarding passenger at terminal and concourse concessions. The 2026 and 2027 figures are City estimates and targets. The FAA's 2021 PFC chart refers to funds approved for building the new airport.

What is being built at Denver Airport, and how big will it get?

Denver is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar programme to rebuild its main terminal and add capacity, and it is planning for many more passengers. The FAA expects Denver to be the second-busiest US airport for passengers boarding by 2055.

  1. 1 Jeppesen Terminal $1.6bn
  2. 2 Airside $0.6bn
  3. 3 Concourse projects $0.5bn
  4. 4 Landside $0.2bn
Cost of the 2023-2027 capital programme by area, in billions of dollars, as stated in the City's disclosure statement. (City and County of Denver (2026 Disclosure Statement), Sep 2026)

Costs and dates are as stated by the City, the Auditor and the FAA on the dates shown. Grant amounts are as reported by the City unless the FAA is named.

How many passengers will Denver handle in future?

These are forecasts and plans: the City's in its October 2026 budget, the FAA's in its February 2026 and February 2023 forecasts. FAA forecasts count enplanements on its fiscal year (October to September).

Glossary

DEN
The airport code for Denver International Airport, run by the City and County of Denver's Department of Aviation.
Total passengers
Passengers arriving and departing (enplaned and deplaned). The City, ACI World and ACI-NA publish this measure.
Enplanements
Passengers boarding a flight, roughly half of total passengers. The City and the FAA each publish their own count.
O&D passengers
Origin and destination passengers, who start or finish their air journey at Denver, as opposed to connecting passengers.
Aircraft operation / movement
A landing or a take-off. The City counts operations and ACI counts movements; the two totals differ.
Landed weight
The maximum certificated landing weight of aircraft landing at the airport, the basis for landing fees and, for cargo-only aircraft, the FAA's cargo ranking.
ACI World / ACI-NA
Airports Council International and its North American branch, trade bodies for airport operators that publish traffic rankings.
FAA / TSA
The US Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration.
TAF
The FAA's Terminal Area Forecast of passengers and operations at US airports, on the US government fiscal year.
NPIAS
The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, which lists airport projects eligible for federal funding.
ACFR
The City of Denver's audited yearly financial report; the 2015 edition was called the CAFR.
Disclosure Statement
The City's yearly report to bondholders under SEC Rule 15c2-12, with airport traffic, airline and finance tables.
PFC / CFC
Passenger facility charge, a fee added to air fares for airport projects; customer facility charge, a fee on rental car days.
Debt service coverage
Net revenues divided by the year's debt payments; bond rules set minimum levels.
A Line
RTD's commuter rail line between Denver Union Station and the airport, opened in April 2016.
RTD
Regional Transportation District, the public transport agency for the Denver area.
CDOT
Colorado Department of Transportation, whose Division of Aeronautics publishes the state's aviation economic impact study.

Methodology and sources

Figures come from the City and County of Denver, which owns and runs the airport (its 2016, 2021 and 2026 bond disclosure statements, the 2025 Economic and Demographic Report, its annual financial reports, budget books and the Denver Auditor's audits), US government bodies (the FAA and TSA), ACI World, ACI-NA, CDOT, RTD and the airlines' SEC filings. Each figure links to the document that produced it, with the date, and each City document is labelled separately. The City's total passengers and enplaned passengers, the FAA's enplanements, ACI's totals and TSA's screening counts are kept apart, as are the City's operations and ACI's movements, and cargo in tonnes, pounds and landed weight. Where sources disagreed, such as on 2025 enplanement growth, land area and distance from downtown, the figure is left out. Forecasts and plans name who made them and when. No monthly figures for 2026 could be checked against a primary source, so none are shown. The page is reviewed monthly and the date is shown at the top.