Denver Airport Reports Record December Traffic

Passenger traffic at Denver International Airport in December 2008 set a monthly record, propelling the airport to its highest passenger count ever.

DIA served 4,073,246 passengers in December, the first time that December’s count topped the 4 million mark. The 4.8% increase over the same month in 2007 was helped by the fact that Thanksgiving came late last year, and the traditionally busy Monday after the holiday occurred in December. DIA’s December total in 2007 was 3,886,366 passengers.

The December total pushed DIA’s annual passenger count to a record 51,245,334. That was a 2.8% increase over the previous record total of 49,863,352 passengers in 2007.

“It’s extremely gratifying that we finished the year with such positive numbers,” said Aviation Manager Kim Day. “We had expected passenger activity to tail off and even become flat because of the weakening economy and the airlines’ capacity reductions. To finish the year with such a strong showing is indicative of the strength of the Denver market.”

One indication of the slumping economy was a decline in cargo handled at DIA. The airport finished 2008 with 527,057,707 pounds of cargo handled, a 6.1% drop from the previous year.

Flight operations in December dipped slightly, 0.9%, to 51,348. But for the year, 2008 operations rose 1.1% to 625,844 when compared with 2007.

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