DENVER—Denver’s airport was busy but not slammed on Christmas Eve, with travel down slightly amid a national downturn and few of the weather delays that have clogged air traffic over the past week.
It’s been an ugly few days at Denver International Airport. Winter storms on both coasts that left travelers stranded for days. A takeoff crash Saturday that injured 38.
But by Wednesday morning, the airport was back to normal—and except for the charred remains of a Continental flight bound for Houston that veered off the runway Saturday—there was little evidence of the tense week.
About 138,000 people were expected to pass through the Denver airport on Wednesday, down slightly from last year. About 133,000 passengers were expected Christmas Day, down from about 136,000 last year. And on the busiest day of the week, Sunday, almost 156,000 people are expected, down 10,000 passengers from last year.
“It’s following the trend nationwide, that traffic is down this holiday season but not too much,” said DIA spokeswoman Erica Gingerich.
Officials with the airport’s two dominant carriers—United Airlines and Frontier Airlines—said there were no delays save for a few caused by weather problems in destination cities.
Gingerich said all six runways at the airport were open after the closure for several days of a runway where a Continental flight veered off and fell down a 40-foot ravine.
The plane burst into flames as the landing gear and one engine were sheared off. All survived the crash, though four remained hospitalized Christmas Eve with non-life-threatening injuries.
Gingerich said airport officials haven’t heard any complaints or worries from passengers seeing the burned wreckage on the side of one runway.
“I don’t think you can see much from an airplane window,” Gingerich said.
What might be bad weather to some people was good weather for Colorado’s mountain resorts. Upward of a foot of snow was predicted for parts of the mountains, just in time to deliver fresh powder for a ski holiday.
Jen Brown, a spokeswoman for Beaver Creek Resort, said the weather Christmas Eve was perfect: clear at the Denver airport but heavy snowfall expected on the slopes. She said Beaver Creek had received about 4 feet of snow in the week before Christmas.
“It’s great news for us,” she said. “It’s ideal.”
