Denver International Airport (
DIA) is a major international airport located in Denver, Colorado. The airport is on the northeastern portion of the city.
It ranks among the top 10 busiest airports in the
United States and is the largest airport in area in the country. It is a major hub for United Airlines and the operations
base of United's low-cost subsidiary
Ted. Frontier Airlines, one of the fastest growing discount airlines in the US also uses
DIA as their main hub. The airport uses DEN as is its IATA airport code and KDEN as its ICAO airport code.
DIA replaced the
old Stapleton International Airport in 1995, making it one of the youngest major airports in the US. It was built by the initiative of Denver mayor Federico Peña, but its construction ran into many problems.
Nowadays, the main complaint about the airport is its distant location from the city center, necessary to accommodate the airport's vast size (137km²). The airport also charges high landing fees to airlines in order to offset its hefty construction costs. Tickets to and from Denver are very expensive, lessening its appeal as a cross-country hub.
DIA has three midfield concourses. They are spaced far apart, and if the inter-terminal people mover system breaks down, it becomes difficult for passengers to board their flights on time, which has only happened once since the airport has been opened. The basic layout is very similar to
Atlanta's airport, except that departures and arrivals are on different levels of the terminals.
During a major
blizzard in 2003, the
heavy snow tore a hole in the one of the terminal's characteristic
white fabric roofs, which were designed to be reminiscent of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in winter.