denver international airport Archives

As a major asset to our region, it was great news to learn that Denver International Airport (DEN) was ranked as the best large airport in the country according to the Wall Street Journal. DEN scored high in the categories of reliability, value and convenience. We know business and leisure travelers alike value DEN’s accessibility and growing number of non-stops flights around the country and the world.

“We are extremely pleased to know that the Wall Street Journal ranked us as the top large U.S. airport when it comes to overall passenger experience,” said airport CEO Kim Day. “Our airlines have voted with their robust growth, and this ranking is additional validation of our overall vision and execution. We are constantly looking for ways to improve the passenger experience from our canine therapy program to new shops and restaurants, events on our plaza, nursing rooms, reserved parking ... and our hard-working employees make it all happen.”

The rankings scored the 20 largest U.S. airports in 14 categories, from on-time reliability to longest walk. The rankings are designed to reflect what matters most to travelers, including categories like security-line wait times, Wi-Fi speed, average Yelp scores for restaurants, average fares, Uber cost to the local convention center, rental-car taxes and fees, number of nonstop destinations and market dominance of the largest airline.

“DEN is one of our most important partners and regional assets, providing more than $26 billion to the Metro Denver region’s economy annually,” said Metro Denver EDC CEO J. J. Ament. “The team at DEN has done a fantastic job of making our airport a leader in innovation and connectivity, and this honor is affirmation of their vision and leadership in global aviation.”

DEN has a strong focus on the passenger experience and providing passengers with amenities to make their visit to the airport as comfortable as possible, including fast and free Wi-Fi, nursing rooms and pet relief areas on every concourse; diverse and elevated concession and retail options; and free events like mini golf and ice skating on the DEN plaza.

In 2017, DEN served 61.4 million passengers and is on pace for another record-setting passenger year. Currently, 24 airlines provide nonstop service to more than 200 destinations including 26 international cities in 12 countries. Each day, DEN serves more than 1,600 flights and on average 168,000 passengers per day.

Article written by the Metro Denver EDC.

Denver International Airport (DEN) is the best large airport in the country according to rankings released by the Wall Street Journal today. DEN scored high in the categories of reliability, value, and convenience.

DEN has a strong focus on the passenger experience and providing passengers with amenities to make their visit to the airport as comfortable as possible, including fast and free Wi-Fi, nursing rooms and pet relief areas on every concourse, diverse and elevated concession and retail options and free events like mini golf and ice skating on the DEN Plaza.

Dani Barger is the digital communications and marketing manager for the Denver Metro Chamber.

This was originally posted by the Metro Denver EDC.

With the launch of two new international and 17 U.S. flights this year, Denver International Airport (DEN) now offers 200 nonstop global destinations – the first time in its aviation history. And, DEN has the most domestic destinations of any airport in the country.

“The Metro Denver region's success attracting and scaling companies relies on our impressive network of domestic and international destinations from Denver International Airport,” said Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation CEO J. J. Ament. “Within four hours, our business travelers can reach virtually any U.S. destination with multiple flights and carriers to choose from.”

The Metro Denver EDC works with DEN to attract domestic and international flights to keep Colorado connected to the world.

Its destination growth means more competition from carriers, keeping airline ticket prices lower than the rest of the country, on average: DEN’s average one-way domestic fare is $138. That’s 19 percent below the U.S. average of $170. In fact, Denver’s average fare has declined 5 percent over the past year, compared to a less than 2 percent average decline for all U.S. airports.

And, those low fares help to stimulate travel demand; DEN’s domestic market has grown by nearly 8 percent over the past year, outpacing the U.S. average of 5 percent growth.

This growth reflects the work of DEN, said DEN CEO Kim Day: “Access is critical in today’s economic environment, and every new destination added to our network is an additional asset.”

Dani Barger is the Digital Communications and Marketing Manager of the Metro Denver EDC

We are connected! And, not just through our smartphones. Denver International Airport can get you where you want to go “in-person” in the world!

Every time DEN pins down a new stop, it’s adding real money to our economy by bringing the world closer to us. Our airport team has been busy, announcing new and growing nonstop service to London, Panama City, Paris, Vancouver and Zurich (and all in just three months). DEN reports that international travel has grown by 40 percent since 2013 (the year the nonstop to Tokyo was launched). These flights signal that our companies are doing more and more business around the world because getting international flights like these is all about the numbers. Airlines choose markets based on that region’s ability to fill the seats helping to ensure that the flight is financially viable.

To show our ongoing support for these investments by our airlines, we’ll be using one of those nonstops to take more than 100 of our metro area leaders to Munich this fall as part of our Leadership Foundation’s annual Leadership Exchange. This trip marks the first time we will take our program to another continent (Germany, here we come) to learn about innovative, bold ideas with regard to business’ role in helping develop our future workforce to ensuring we are creating communities that allow workers to live where they work. As always, the public, private and nonprofit sectors will travel together, studying best practices that we can bring back to implement in Colorado. We have so many examples of great successes that started from a learning on one of our LEX trips – the Metro Mayors Caucus, our commuter rail planning, the Denver School of Science and Technology and the Biennial of the Americas, to name a few.

Creating these shared experiences where we build close working relationships and a shared vision of what is possible makes us more effective at getting work done. As a matter of fact, four years ago the Brookings Institute said it’s our leadership, what they call “leadership with a worldview,” that makes our region so competitive globally. And, directly combining our leadership programs with our global connections is ensuring that worldview only gets stronger.

Kelly Brough is the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber.

“Sorry I’m late. I had to fly though Denver.” That was the phrase used in an ad that ran in The Wall Street Journal to promote Salt Lake City in 1985.

Stapleton International Airport, a project that the Chamber helped bring to fruition, was the primary airport serving the region since opening in 1929. At that time in early flight history, the Chamber had a vision to make Denver “one of the foremost cities of the United States in air-mindedness and aviation industry.”

That same focus guided the business community in 1978. The Chamber formed a committee led by Bob Albin, a local businessman who would later chair the Chamber, of more than 50 business leaders to study the potential need to replace Stapleton. During the 1970s three major carries (Frontier, Continental and United) made Denver a hub after the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, but, that ad was unfortunately true: Denver was still known for delays. The study was completed in 1979, recommending a new airport.

”By the turn of the century, we had to drastically expand or completely replace the existing airport,” Albin said.

The study was just the beginning; in order for Denver International Airport (DIA) to become a reality, Denver metro area voters had to approve this multibillion dollar project. The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (a Chamber affiliate then known as the Greater Denver Corporation) put $700,000 into an election in 1988 to approve the annexation of land and development of a new airport.

Two votes were needed to approve DIA.

On May 17, 1988, Adams County voters approved the annexation of the land by an 8 percent margin of 54 to 46 percent. On May 16 of the following year, Denver voters gave an almost two-to-one support of the new airport, with 63 percent in favor.

The airport faced challenges, critics and delayed opening. Ultimately, on Feb. 28, 1995, DIA opened to travelers. Today the airport, widely considered one of the region’s smartest economic development investments, now serves more than 54 million passengers a year, making it among the busiest in the United States.

Albin said it best: “It takes a long time to do big, important things.”

And, we continue to work on DIA. In 2015, voters in Adams and Denver counties renewed their agreement to develop area surrounding the airport. Panasonic Enterprise Solutions has been among the first companies to relocate business to this area—and they are creating a smart city, Peña Station Next, as part of the next chapter for this area.

Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

Photo courtesy of Denver International Airport.

The first snowflakes have finally fallen in the Denver metro area, with more in the forecast. That’s great news, and not just for those us who want to get in some good ski days—it’s good news for our economy. And, you know why:

Snow means water. And, not just for Colorado but for the western United States. Our snowfall supports areas whose GDPs combine to rank just between the fifth and sixth largest in the world. So, now when you’re shoveling this winter, you can smile the entire time.

It puts Coloradans to work. Our tourism and outdoor recreation industry employs 177,700 people—with an annual payroll of $6 billion.

Those visitors spend cash. In 2015, 77.7 million people visited Colorado—yeah, you read that correctly—over 77 MILLION visitors. They spent over $19 billion (yep, that’s with a B) and that delivered $1.13 billion in state and local taxes (up 7 percent from 2014). In Denver, a record 16.4 million tourists visited in 2015, spending $5 billion. So, we hope even more Coloradans will go out of their way to say hello to visitors, give them directions and ensure they know we love having them in our state.

Visitors remember their experiences. Data tells us that many company executives first came to Colorado on a trip—whether a conference or a vacation. That trip is often the catalyst to conversations about moving here. Now you see how important your interaction with a visitor is—it can deliver long-term economic benefits for our state.

Our airport is an economic driver. DEN’s economic impact is $26.3 billion a year, and it is critical to many of those visitors coming to our state. It serves us well, too. So, for those times when you find yourself needing or wanting to visit someplace else, we want to make that easier, too. We have a new partnership with IdentoGO to enroll in TSA Pre✓. They are taking enrollment on the road and bringing it to travelers like you in an RV set up to enroll folks quickly and conveniently. The RV will be at the Chamber the week of Dec. 12. You can set your appointment time to get enrolled just in time for a new business year. Get Pre✓

We love all our seasons in Colorado.

To winter we say: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Kelly Brough is president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Your ballot is coming—and, soon! Here are a couple reminders of issues related to important economic drivers that we are supporting are on that ballot: National Western Stock Show and Denver International Airport.

Referred Question 2C asks voters to extend the lodgers’ tax, which will be used to transform the National Western Center into an economic center for animal science and agriculture and make much-needed improvements to the Colorado Convention Center. It will forge new partnerships between National Western and Colorado State University, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and History Colorado. And, some say the best news of all is that we are only extending a current tax (so folks are used to paying it) and it's mostly funded by visitors (those who stay in our hotels). The bottom line: Help ensure our agriculture and animal science industry thrives for the next 150 years. Vote yes on 2C.

Referred Question 1A asks Adams and Denver County voters to approve an agreement for additional commercial development on DIA land. The agreement is endorsed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, local legislators, county commissioners and city council members in Adams County, Aurora, Bennett, Brighton, Commerce City, Denver, Federal Heights, Thornton and Westminster. You will also see a long list of chambers of commerce, economic development groups and other organizations from across the region on that list of supporters. Today DIA creates $26 billion in regional economic impact and supports 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. This agreement will help this economic engine get even more mileage by encouraging business and development around DIA. The agreement ensures the benefits of that economic activity are shared by all the surrounding cities and counties as well. The bottom line: Collaboration is how we do business in Colorado and this is our 2016 poster child of collaboration. Vote yes on 1A.

Also, watch your inboxes next week for our fall issue of Business Altitude, where you can see our full ballot guide for issues that matter to business.

Kelly Brough is president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.