DENVER —
Almost every month, Denver International Airport sends out a news release saying that it’s broken a record for passenger traffic.
It kind of makes you wonder: how many flights can the airport feasibly accommodate?
It’s a question viewer Nolan asked, writing into Next: “How many flights could DIA handle each hour if every runway was operating, every gate was being utilized, and there weren’t any delays or technical issues?”
This question forced us to do some math.
The Federal Aviation Administration allows a maximum of 32 operations per runway per hour. This means DIA could legally handle 192 flights per house.
Technically, there could be 4,608 takeoffs at DIA per day.
Right now, there are around 1,600 flights a day … so the airport has a while before it hits maximum capacity.
Do you have a question you’d like to see answered? Email next@9news.com or use the hashtag #heynext.
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