Denver Airport Among the Busiest in the World

Denver International Airport continues to stand out for more than conspiracy theories and its locally beloved demonic, blue mustang.

The Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association for the world's airports, ranked DIA as the sixth-busiest airport in the world and third-busiest in North America based on 2024 passenger totals, DIA announced on Monday, April 14.

DIA beat out megacity airports in New Delhi, Shanghai and Istanbul, but came in behind fellow U.S. airports in Atlanta, which was the busiest airport in the world, and Dallas, which came in third. The Denver airport was ranked against more than 2,700 airports, and it came about 1.5 million travelers short of tying London Heathrow Airport for the global fifth spot.

In a Monday press release, DIA credited the increase in travelers to airlines increasing the frequencies of their flights out of the airport, larger airline taking more passengers and the addition of four airlines, including Aer Lingus and Turkish Airlines for nonstop flights to Dublin and Istanbul. In May, DIA will ladd direct flights to Rome, as well.

More than 4.6 million international travelers went through DIA in 2024, according to DIA. That's a 46 percent increase from 2019, the last year before the pandemic. All twelve months in 2024 set new records for international passenger traffic going through DIA, as well.

Airport CEO Phil Washington says the airport will get busier in the coming year and eventually hit 100 million passengers. DIA still finishing up the $2.1 billion Great Hall Project to renovate the airport's main terminal and make sure it can handle 100 million passengers coming through. Construction from the Great Hall project, which isn't expected to finish until 2028, caused a drop in DIA's customer satisfaction rating with J.D. Power in 2024.