Denver International Airport carried a record number of travelers in 2008, serving more than 51.2 million people through the year and more than 4 million in December.
The previous record was set last year, when the airport carried more than 49.8 million fliers.
Despite the struggling economy, DIA has shown a steady increase in passenger traffic in each of the past five years. Officials expect continued passenger growth of 24 percent by 2015, according to the airport’s master plan charting future development.
Aviation manager Kim Day said there is no doubt DIA will continue to grow, given factors in the Denver market such as the city’s location in the middle of the country and its relatively affluent residents.
“It’s time for us to look into the future,” she said. “We are always doing things to try and ease the capacity issues here.”
Day said there’s nothing about eclipsing 50 million passengers in a year that has triggered DIA to make any specific expansions. Rather, she said, it is a reminder to continue thinking about long-term projects. These include adding more runways, gates and concourses between 2015 and 2030, according to the master plan.
“There will be a period of about a year where we will just be doing the planning part,” she said. “It’s a constant tweaking process.”
While DIA is expecting passenger traffic to grow over the next couple of years, Day said it may experience a dip this year. Her expectation is reinforced by a forecast released Tuesday by Boyd Group International in Evergreen. It predicts the U.S. airline industry will carry 41 million fewer passengers in 2009 and assumes a return to economic stability in 2011.
Boyd Group president Mike Boyd said it is unlikely DIA’s passenger traffic will increase at the rate it anticipates.
“It’s not going to happen,” Boyd said. “We see, best case by 2014 (traffic) being up to 51 million passengers per year, or about where it is now.”
George Plaven: 303-954-1638 or gplaven@denverpost.com
