Denver International Airport (DIA) has reported record passenger numbers of around 61.4m in 2017.

A total of 61,379,396 passengers traveled though DIA in 2017, an increase of 5.3% over the previous record of 58,266,515 passengers in 2016. December 2017 was also the busiest December in DIA history, with 4,950,804 passengers.

The duty free concession at the airport is operated by Dufry which, as reported, opened two new duty free and tax free stores in Concourses A and B in 2016. It also unveiled standalone duty paid Kiehl’s and Urban Decay outlets in Concourse C.

Overall international passenger traffic at DIA more than doubled the overall passenger traffic growth rate in 2017, increasing 12.5% over the previous year to an all-time high of 2.6 million international travellers.

December 2017 was also the busiest month ever for international passengers at DIA, increasing nearly 17% over December 2016. International traffic growth over the last year was driven in part by new service and new airlines, including Copa Airlines to Panama City, Panama; United to Cozumel, Mexico; Norwegian to London Gatwick; Air Canada to Vancouver; and Southwest to Belize City, Belize. Aeromexico, Icelandair and Lufthansa also contributed.

BUSY SUMMER

The summer of 2017 was ‘extraordinarily busy’, according to the airport, comprising 70 of the top-100 busiest days in the airport’s history. July was the busiest month ever for DIA, with more than 5.8 million passengers. The airport also experienced the single busiest day in its history on 30 June 2017, with 197,276 passengers.

In late May, DIA also celebrated its billionth passenger since the facility opened on 28 February 1995.

DIA served 187 non-stop destinations worldwide during 2017, six more than the previous year. New destinations added in 2017, which were not served in 2016, include: Long Beach, California; Belize City, Belize; Pensacola, Florida; San Luis Obispo, California; Providence, Rhode Island; Columbia, Missouri; London-Gatwick, United Kingdom; Prescott, Arizona; and Cozumel, Mexico.

In addition, two new foreign-flag airlines inaugurated service at DIA in 2017, Norwegian and Copa and one new domestic carrier, ViaAir. There were 23 commercial passenger airlines serving flights at the airport in 2017.