United Airlines announced Friday that it will launch a new nonstop service between Denver International Airport and Providenciales International Airport this winter, making it the only major carrier to offer a direct connection between Denver and the Caribbean destination.

Flights are scheduled to operate once weekly, on Saturdays, between Dec. 19 and April 24, 2027.

The flight to Turks and Caicos will have a travel time of about five hours, according to a Friday announcement by DIA.

The country, north of the Dominican Republic and southeast of the Bahamas, is an archipelago of over 40 islands, with Providenciales serving as the third-largest and most populated island.

Known for its turquoise beaches and the world’s third-largest barrier reef, the islands offer opportunities to explore marine life, coral reefs and shipwrecks.

Turks and Caicos will be United’s fifth destination in the Caribbean from DIA, joining existing service to Nassau, Bahamas (NAS); Montego Bay (MBJ), Jamaica; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ); and San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU).

“United’s network offering from Denver is unmatched, and the addition of Turks and Caicos is yet another destination that only United brings to Coloradans,” United Vice President Jonna McGrath said.

“United’s commitment to delivering an exceptional travel experience in Denver is underscored by each new route we add, as well as the more than $1 billion in investments we have made here since 2021.”

The announcement follows the Turks and Caicos Islands’ in Denver, where Premier, Hon. Charles Washington Misick was welcomed by Gov. Jared Polis, who proclaimed May 20, 2026, as Turks and Caicos Islands Friendship Day in Colorado in recognition of the growing ties between the destination and the state.

Misick said in a Friday announcement that the new route will open up new opportunities for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“This new direct service between Denver and Providenciales is tremendously exciting for the Turks and Caicos Islands,” he said.

PLS brings the number of nonstop destinations in the Caribbean served from DIA to six, and the number of DIA nonstop international destinations to 35. With the addition of Providenciales, United now offers flights to more than 200 nonstop destinations from Denver, including 24 international cities across 13 countries.

DIA’s global air service network, encompassing nonstop destinations served by all DIA carriers, now totals 237 destinations worldwide, including 35 international markets across 19 countries and 202 domestic destinations in 46 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.

The company reported 384 delayed flights at the airport around 4 p.m. Tuesday, including 194 delayed departures and 190 delayed arrivals.

Four other flights were canceled, three of which were departures.

Colorado weather: Severe thunderstorms with possible large hail, heavy winds expected in I-25 corridor, Eastern Plains

Nearly 200 Southwest Airlines flights and more than 100 United Airlines flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. Ashley Bain, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines, said in a statement that weather near Denver was impacting flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for thunderstorms at 3:30 p.m., according to the agency. Flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport were also on a 15-minute delay for storms, according to the FAA. There were no ground stops for weather or any other reason at Denver International.

A United Airlines flight bound for Spain from Newark Liberty International Airport turned around midflight Saturday due to a possible security threat in flight.

The flight departed around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but landed back at Newark at 9:37 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airline said there were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Boeing 767 aircraft.

According to air traffic control audio, security came to inspect the aircraft after someone named their Bluetooth device a “certain four-letter word.” A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on. The flight turned around after communicating with the airline’s headquarters in Chicago.

Passengers had to evacuate as the aircraft was swept by Port Authority police, and passengers were rescreened by TSA and Customs and Border Patrol before reboarding. The airline declined to provide specifics on the cause of the incident.

Passengers boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which took off early Sunday morning and landed in Palma in the afternoon.

This was the latest incident with a United Airlines flight this month. On Friday, a domestic flight was diverted because of a security concern with . Earlier this month, a United flight landing at Newark airport , though no one was injured.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ground stop at 3:13 p.m. and lifted it as of 4:50 p.m., according to agency alerts.

Thunderstorms could bring tennis-ball-sized hail, winds up to 70 mph and tornadoes to Colorado’s Eastern Plains through Saturday night, according to the National Weather Service.

Colorado weather: Severe thunderstorm watch active for Eastern Plains

Weather sensors logged at the airport on Saturday afternoon.

Airlines at DIA reported 276 delayed flights as of 4:55 p.m., including 96 delays on United Airlines, 73 on Southwest and 61 on SkyWest, according to the flight tracking website .

Design work will begin this year on the project to repurpose this existing baggage tunnel, adjacent to a tunnel that carries the electric trains, at an estimated cost between $300 million and $700 million, Denver Mayor Michael Johnston said. Johnston planned to announce the plans on Tuesday morning. Construction is scheduled to start next year, with the 17-foot-wide walkways opening in 2028.

DIA’s trains broke down 262 times over the past two years, airport records show. While most of the breakdowns were brief, lasting an average of four minutes, DIA officials say the lack of a backup option as the airport grows, toward a projected 120 million travelers a year by 2045, increasingly causes problems.

Repurposing the tunnel, built before the airport opened in 1995, “gives us the most affordable and fastest way to solve the challenge,” Johnston said.

“The whole world has speculated for decades about what exists in the tunnels under Denver International Airport. Now, the whole world will get to see it,” he said, referencing conspiracy theories that include bunkers under the airport to protect the global elite in case of an apocalypse or even evidence of aliens.

For more than five years, DIA chief executive Phil Washington has been exploring options for creating a backup system to minimize disruptions and missed flights when trains break down at the airport, the third-busiest in the United States and sixth-busiest in the world.

DIA’s team initially considered replicating the pedestrian A Bridge, a 365-foot link between the terminal and the A Concourse. A new bridge connecting concourse A to B would have to stretch 1,400 feet, and a bridge connecting B to C would have to stretch 1,100 feet.

Denver officials said they haven’t ruled out building new bridges. But those construction projects would be far more disruptive than repurposing the underground tunnel, take longer to complete, and cost $2 billion to $3 billion, Johnston said.

Travelers choosing to walk along two one-third-mile walkways could move from the main terminal as far as Concourse C in 10 to 15 minutes – and faster if designs include moving sidewalks, Washington said.

“We want to make this a pleasing journey,” and artwork will be displayed in the tunnel. “We will make sure folks want to walk down there. It won’t be a dark alley.”

Over the past few months, city and airline officials have been discussing details. Airlines strongly support the effort to increase reliability in the airport so that train disruptions don’t cause travelers to miss or be late for flights, Washington said.

“We’ve had a must-ride train for 30 years. Now we see this as a must-have,” he said. “We are atoning for the original sin at (DIA) of not having redundancy.”

No excavation or tunnel boring is required. Travelers won’t notice the construction underground, Johnston said. Funding will come from airlines and airport revenues. “No taxpayer dollars” will be tapped, he said.

A broader $2.1 billion overhaul that has complicated DIA for more than five years should be finished next year with the opening of a new Great Hall. DIA officials plan more upgrades over the next 12 years, costing roughly $12.8 billion, with new runways and up to 111 more airline gates.

The definitive guide to Denver International Airport’s biggest conspiracy theories

DIA is simultaneously carrying out a modernization of the 30-year-old automated underground trains, a $148 million project to expand train capacity and reduce wait times. Train contractors recently completed a partial fleet replacement, shifting from older steel cars to 26 aerodynamic white cars made of recycled aluminum.

Half of the 131 train breakdowns over the past year involved the new train cars, as reported recently by .

The modernization includes upgrading the signal and control system, which should also increase the train frequency.

The trains run 24/7 and, factoring in the breakdowns, operated 99.9% of the time over the past 12 months, DIA spokeswoman Courtney Law said.

But even brief breakdowns can cause havoc. On March 18, trouble at an Xcel Energy substation caused a power outage lasting about an hour that prompted the to ground all flights to DIA. The outage froze the trains.

“That day is seared into my memory. The escalators stopped. The elevators stopped," said Washington, who has been exploring options to install a mini nuclear power station at the airport to further increase reliability.

The March train breakdown strengthened the resolve of city officials to create an alternative people-moving system as soon as possible by repurposing the tunnel, Johnston said. “We saw the urgency of having the solution come online faster.”

“Making memories” is one of those cheeseball phrases, but it has a solid core: You can often detect, in real time, events that will stick with someone for a lifetime.

That’s easy to see in my kids, who are constantly trying something for the first time, be it a scary movie, a rock concert, or an unfamiliar food. That includes a recent Colorado Symphony performance of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” itself part of a program of early 20th-century American music at Boettcher Concert Hall in late April (and also featuring Britten’s Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes and Debussy’s sublime La Mer).

My wife propelled us there on opening night, having long ago linked the song with the romantic days of mid-20th century aviation (the 102-year-old “Rhapsody” is ). It seemed like the right play to introduce my kids to the world of feel-it-in-your-chest orchestral beauty, provided they wanted to go there. Symphonies and the fine arts in general can seem intimidating, but people who embrace them often have a formative, positive experience they can point to.

We had seats more or less behind the soundboard at Boettcher, which ensured a balanced mix in a venue that has occasionally been knocked for its acoustics. The energy in the room crackled compared with some other, also-great early-20th century showcases I’ve seen there (hello, Rite of Spring!) as conductor Peter Oundjian shared his infectious joy in revisiting and leading these iconic pieces.

Grammy-winning pianist Michelle Cann tore up the keys with equal parts passion and precision, tackling Rhapsody’s twisting piano lines like roller coaster turns: fleet and firmly on track. I’d steal looks at my kids and delight in the fact that their faces hadn’t turned to stone; if anything, they were pitched forward, their eyes scanning the dozens of expert players on stage.

“I loved it!” my daughter said afterward. “It was cool,” my son reported, which is about as close to a ringing endorsement as he gives.

Success?

We’ll see. It often feels smug to me when I hear parents crow about introducing their kids to high-level activities (i.e., ones with knowledgeable and refined audiences, be they fine-arts or fitness-related). And certainly, my goal was not to pat myself on the back.

But I also try not to take anything for granted, and I’m thrilled with how engaged the kids were, potentially setting them up for a lifetime of supporting and benefiting from live performing arts.

It’s easy with the Colorado Symphony. The orchestra’s range, enthusiasm, skill and good taste all combined during the “Rhapsody” show to remind me how stage performances can cut through the clutter and connect directly with one’s soul — however young and new to the experience it may be.

U.S. airlines spent an additional $1.8 billion, or 56% more on fuel in March than they did in February, according to the . Some of that reflects higher seasonal demand, but it is mostly about higher fuel prices.

With both Iran and the U.S. blockading the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway where a fifth of global oil exports flow remains plugged up.

Denver-based Frontier Airlines, in its latest earnings report, told investors that its fuel costs in the first quarter averaged $2.88 a gallon. They are expected to average closer to $4.25 a gallon in the second quarter, assuming the conflict doesn’t heat up again.

The nearly 50% surge could push the share of fuel costs to total operating expenses from just under a quarter to nearly a third, wiping out any expected profit margin.

“In response to the fuel spike, we have taken decisive action to adjust capacity, fares, and ancillaries,” CEO Jim Dempsey told investors on a call Tuesday. Dempsey predicts that the airline will be able to claw back only 35% to 45% of its extra fuel spending via higher airfares and cost-cutting.

Unlike traditional airlines that have the cushion of higher-margin business class seats or that can trim extras like meals, ultra-low-cost carriers like Frontier already run lean. Their selling proposition is affordability, and it is being challenged.

“You can’t significantly increase the fare of customers who chose you specifically because you were the cheapest option,” said Arif Gasilov, an energy regulatory analyst with the Gasilov Group in New York.

Frontier, Avelo Airlines and other low-cost carriers have asked the , which U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has rejected so far.

Frontier expands routes, will cut less profitable ones

Dempsey took over from longtime Frontier CEO Barry Biffle in December and has unwound some of his more aggressive expansion plans. The timing is coincidental, but also fortuitous.

So too has been the May 2 shutdown of Spirit Airlines, formerly the chief low-cost rival of Frontier. Spirit executives said their restructuring plan failed because of an unanticipated $100 million spike in fuel costs in March and April.

Dempsey said Frontier saw a “significant revenue intake” over last weekend as travelers scrambled to rebook. The two carriers had more than 100 routes in common, representing about a third of Frontier’s total capacity.

Frontier has targeted former Spirit customers, offering them a SAVENOW promo code for half off on base fares through May 15. That code can also be used by regular customers.

Going forward, Frontier said it would add nine more routes and 15 additional departures across 18 key Spirit markets like Orlando, Las Vegas and Detroit.

The near-term surge aside, Dempsey’s longer-term game plan involves cutting less profitable long-haul routes, such as those out of New York’s JFK, and focusing on shorter and more profitable regional routes.

As spring break flyers heading to Florida found out, the airline’s options out of Denver were thinner than a watered-down poolside piña colada.

Frontier is also returning two dozen A320neo planes it was leasing ahead of schedule, and it is pushing back the timeline for accepting 69 Airbus deliveries until 2031 and beyond.

Higher costs passed on to consumers

Everything is connected in today’s world. Increased fuel costs impact maintenance and other vendor costs. Those are passed on along with higher jet fuel costs to consumers, said Kshitiz Saini, a commodity manager with a major U.S. carrier.

“To offset this, carriers often adjust pricing on unbooked inventory to recover some of the unexpected losses or introduce additional fees, such as for checked baggage,” he said.

Like Gasilov, Saini, an aviation supply chain expert, said ultra-low cost carriers are especially vulnerable to fuel spikes in part because they rotate their aircraft more heavily, leaving them more susceptible to any disruptions.

“Any delay or operational issue can quickly increase costs, which, when combined with rising fuel prices, puts additional strain on their business model,” he said.

The inflation Frontier has faced to fill up its tanks is a little bit less than what consumers are facing. The statewide price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Colorado has shot up from $2.78 a gallon in late February to $4.41 a gallon on May 5, a 58% increase, according to AAA.

But there’s a big difference. An A320neo needs about 6,300 gallons of fuel to get full, while a Ford F-150 takes about 23 to 36 gallons.

United, Southwest were having a good year before conflict started

Frontier is the third-largest airline operating out of Denver International Airport, responsible for nearly 10% of the passengers carried. United Airlines is the largest, with about half of the traffic, while Southwest Airlines has about 30%.

“We have demonstrated quarter after quarter that we are built to withstand disruptions, and this moment is no different,” said United CEO Scott Kirby in an April 22 earnings release. “We’ll stay nimble in the short term while continuing to grow the airline and invest in our customers, product and people.”

United Airlines had its best first quarter demand-wise in its history and was coming off a strong 2025, where it and Delta Airlines accounted for all of the domestic airline industry’s profitability.

Like at a lot of airlines, things were looking up this year. And then they weren’t.

In a March 20 letter, Kirby tried to reassure employees that while the blow of higher fuel prices was severe, customer demand was holding up.

“The reality is, jet fuel prices have more than doubled in the last three weeks. If prices stayed at this level, it would mean an extra $11 billion in annual expense just for jet fuel,” he wrote.

As a point of comparison, he noted that United’s most profitable year generated under $5 billion in net income.

United had built up three times the cash balance it had heading into the COVID shutdown, and it ended 2025 with the highest credit rating it had seen in three decades.

“That means that higher oil puts a lot more stress on United’s competitors and that stress happens faster. We have the time and the luxury to ride this out and stay focused on the long term,” Kirby said.

Like Frontier and United, Southwest Airlines executives described a year that was going well before the conflict started.

“But for fuel, everything is on track. The only change is fuel, which is a significant headwind,” said Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan during an April 23 earnings call.

Southwest had expected jet fuel prices to average $2.40 a gallon in the first quarter, but saw them rise to $2.73 a gallon in anticipation of the conflict. The Dallas-based carrier expects its fuel prices to average around $4.10 to $4.15 per gallon in the second quarter.

Will customers stay home because of fuel costs?

Jordan and Dempsey have both pulled back guidance for the rest of the year, given the added uncertainty around fuel costs. Another big unknown is how consumers will respond as inflationary pressures squeeze their spending.

Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Analytics, estimates that higher gasoline prices have drained $23 billion directly from household budgets since the war started. And those costs will seep into everything from the price of groceries to what Amazon needs to charge to deliver its packages. And yes, into airfares.

A sustained 50-cent increase per gallon in jet fuel prices can wipe out the quarterly profit of a 100-plane fleet, and add $20,000 to the cost of a cross-country flight, said Eliot Vancil, CEO at Fuel Logic, a Dallas firm that helps airlines with fuel deliveries and logistics.

“The fuel surcharge usually appears within one month of a fuel spike and the price per ticket usually ranges from $15 to $40,” Vancil said. Another strategy is to raise the cost of baggage fees. Vancil thinks those could go up around $10.

Unlike Europe and Asia, which rely heavily on oil coming out of the Middle East, the U.S. is more insulated. Prices are higher, but shortages aren’t forecast, although supply could get tighter in California, Oregon and Washington than in other states.

Goldman Sachs, , estimates that commercial jet fuel inventories in Europe could dip below a critical 23-day threshold next month. That will trigger more intense rationing, such as flight cancellations beyond the 20,000 already announced through October, and retroactive surcharges on already purchased tickets.

Asia could cross the same threshold later in the summer, given its smaller refinery capacity and even heavier reliance on Gulf petroleum.

Why 23 days? Goldman Sachs notes it is because of a technical issue at play that limits the supply left after a required buffer to six to 10 days of usable fuel within tanks.

Most fuel storage tanks have floating roofs, which puts them in danger of collapse or an explosion if levels drop below 20% of capacity. Put another way, the needle on the fuel gauge can’t run too low without damaging the tank. That essentially locks up 20% of the supply.

Before things get to that point, regulators in Europe and elsewhere may shut down airports and force additional flight cancellations. That could upend the plans of many who have already booked their trips.

S&P Global Energy expects that if Hormuz were to be reopened, another seven months, likely more, would be needed to restore upstream production, assuming no permanent damage and supply chains operate smoothly.

Higher fuel costs and higher air fares may linger long after the Iran conflict cools down.

United Airlines flight 2408 was scheduled to depart DIA at 5:58 p.m. Sunday, . But passengers exited the plane down airstairs soon after the flight left the Denver airport gate, before the plane took off, United spokesperson Russell Carlton wrote in an email to The Denver Post.

“The aircraft was screened and cleared, and passengers returned to the gate where we provided them with food and water,” Carlton said.

DIA staff and the Denver Police Department both responded to the reported bomb threat, an airport spokesperson confirmed.

Denver law enforcement is working with the FBI to investigate the threat, according to the police department. No additional information about the bomb threat was available on Monday.

“Any threat or hoax threat can potentially be a federal crime, including threats to critical infrastructure such as airport operations,” FBI Denver Public Affairs Officer Vikki Migoya said. “No dangerous materials were located on the aircraft. The investigation into the source of the threat is ongoing.”

None of the 200 passengers or seven United crew members was injured. The plane safely left for the Washington Dulles International Airport at 11:33 p.m. Sunday, Carlton said — nearly six hours after its scheduled departure time.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Airlines reported 794 flight delays and 30 canceled flights as of 8 p.m., according to the flight tracking site .

Departing planes were sprayed with deicing fluid for most of the day, which wrapped up before 5 p.m., according to the n.

Flight delays at DIA included 242 delays on Southwest Airlines, 225 delays on United Airlines and 189 delays on SkyWest, according to FlightAware. SkyWest canceled 16 flights, followed by Southwest with five cancellations, Lufthansa with four, American Airlines with three and United and Frontier with one canceled flight each.

Cold weather is expected to linger overnight, with thermometers expected to drop to 18 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

One person was injured and a plane suffered “substantial” damage when a United Airlines flight collided with two de-icing trucks at Denver International Airport in March after taxiing without clearance, according to investigators.

The United plane was parked on a de-icing pad when the flight crew heard what they believed to be the de-icing crew wrapping up the task and debriefing, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The flight crew conducted all post-de-icing checks and received clearance to taxi from air traffic control, the report stated. However, when they started to move, they hit the de-icing trucks, pushing at least one onto its side. At that time, the flight crew was informed by the de-icing team that they had not been cleared to exit the pad and that the plane had hit the trucks, according to the report.

United Airlines initially reported that a de-icing truck had hit the plane.

One truck driver sustained minor injuries in the March 6 collision, which happened at about 10:24 a.m. None of the 136 people on board the Nashville-bound United plane — including pilots, flight attendants and passengers — were injured, according to the report.

The United plane, a Boeing 737, suffered “substantial” damage to the wings, which hit the trucks, according to the preliminary report.

Federal transportation officials said the investigation remains ongoing and involves NTSB specialists, the Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines.