Denver has 196 non-stop routes in the first three months of 2023, based on examining the airport's whole schedule using Cirium data. These include those served on a limited basis, such as Saturday-only links to the Caribbean. Last week I showed that Denver is the USA's third-busiest airport between January and March 2023.
Denver's top 10 routes
It is always somewhat 'tricky' looking at a hub, i.e., an airport important for transit passengers, as the simple provision of flights doesn't signify where passengers actually go. That is especially the case if they're to other hubs, compounded further by most top 10 routes involving big cities. Nonetheless, it is insightful in its own way.
The 628-mile (1,011km) link from Denver to Las Vegas has more flights than any other route, although it is neck and neck with Phoenix. Indeed, with 2,290 departing flights – a weird number to get your head around – Las Vegas is the nation's eighth most-served route by this measure. It has an average of 25 flights daily but fluctuates between 18 and 29.
|
Denver to... |
Q1 flights (average daily) |
Airline/s (by flights) |
% of local passengers (Q2 22) |
Find flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Las Vegas |
2,290 (25) |
Southwest, United, Frontier, Spirit |
61% |
|
|
Phoenix |
2,286 (25) |
Southwest, United, American, Frontier |
60% |
|
|
Salt Lake City |
1,888 (21) |
Southwest, United, Delta, Frontier |
44% |
|
|
Los Angeles |
1,774 (19) |
United, Southwest, Delta, American, Spirit |
68% |
|
|
Chicago O'Hare |
1,484 (16) |
United, Southwest, American |
62% |
|
|
Minneapolis |
1,452 (16) |
Southwest, Delta, United, Frontier, Sun Country |
68% |
|
|
Atlanta |
1,400 (15) |
Delta, Southwest, United, Frontier |
53% |
|
|
Seattle |
1,394 (15) |
United, Alaska, Southwest, Delta, Frontier |
54% |
|
|
Dallas Fort Worth |
1,317 (15) |
American, United, Frontier |
59% |
|
|
New York LaGuardia |
1,258 (14) |
United, Southwest, JetBlue, Delta |
75% |
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6 in 10 Las Vegas passengers were local
While the most recent Department of Transportation data available to me is from Q2 (April-June) 2022, this is useful as it shows whether passengers are local (point-to-point, P2P), i.e., where they only traveled to/from Denver versus those who transited. Some 61% of Denver-Las Vegas passengers were local: they only flew between the two cities. Naturally, the proportion of P2P passengers varied wildly by airline: from 38% with United to 72% with ULCC Frontier.
Discover more aviation news.
88% of routes are domestic
Of Denver's 196 non-stop destinations in Q1 2023, 172 (88%) are domestic. The 172 involve 44 states. Naturally, California is by far the most served. Denver has an average of 110 daily flights there, or around one in eight of its total. United has more California services than any other carrier (45%), followed by Southwest (42%), Frontier (7%), Delta (3%), American (2%), and Spirit (1%). A breakdown of Denver's top five states is as follows:
|
Denver to... |
Q1 flights (average daily) |
% of Denver's total Q1 flights |
Airports served in Q1 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
California |
9,909 (110) |
13% |
18 |
|
Texas |
6,851 (76) |
9% |
10 |
|
Colorado |
4,754 (53) |
6% |
12 |
|
Florida |
3,585 (40) |
5% |
10 |
|
Arizona |
2,955 (33) |
4% |
3 |
When was the last time you flew to Denver? Let us know in the comments.
-
Denver International Airport
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- DEN/KDEN
- Country:
- United States
- CEO:
- Phillip A. Washington
- Passenger Count :
- 58,828,552 (2021)
- Runways :
- 7/25 - 3,658m (12,000 ft) | 8/26 - 3,658m (12,000 ft) | 16L/34R - 3,658m (12,000 ft) | 16R/34L - 4,877m (16,000 ft) | 17L/35R - 3,658m (12,000 ft) | 17R/35L - 3,658m (12,000 ft)
