DENVER — For the first 10 months of 2021, Denver International Airport (DIA) ranked as the third-busiest airport in the world behind only Atlanta and Dallas.
DIA passenger traffic data, published Monday, shows the airport served 58,828,552 passengers in 2021, a decrease of 15% from the airport's all-time high of 69 million passengers in 2019 but an increase of 74% from 2020.
Worldwide passenger traffic statistics are available through October 2021, said DIA, and full-year global statistics are expected to be available in the spring.
"It’s encouraging to see [DIA's] passenger traffic continue to rebound toward pre-pandemic levels," said the airport's CEO Phil Washington.
In 2021, DIA was the largest operation based on scheduled flights for Frontier, United and Southwest.
United Airlines remained DIA's largest airline in 2021 with 44% market share of total passengers. Southwest — DIA's second-largest passenger carrier — saw traffic only fall 1.6% below 2019, the best performance among major carriers.
Frontier ranked as DIA's third-largest airline accounting for 11% of passenger market share.
"Our large domestic market and robust hub network combined with Denver’s resilient economy make [DIA] an attractive opportunity for airlines," said Washington. "I’m especially optimistic about the steady return of international passengers as we look forward to welcoming new visitors and opening more doors to the world in 2022."
For the month of December 2021, passenger traffic declined by 7% as compared to December 2019.
In terms of cargo volume, DIA totaled over 673 million pounds in 2021, a 2% increase over 2020 and a 0.2% increase over 2019. Cargo carriers increased their share of DIA cargo volume in 2021 while cargo volume on passenger carriers declined, said DIA.
Three airlines recorded increases in passenger traffic volume at DIA in 2021 as compared to 2019: Allegiant, Aeromexico and Volaris.
International passengers reached 1.9 million for the year, representing just over 3% of total passenger demand, a 40% decline vs. 2019 but more than double the volume served in 2020.
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