"DIA hits record in July with 4.2 million fliers"

Thursday, September 23, 2004
 
DIA hits record in July with 4.2 million fliers
By Kelly Yamanouchi 
The Denver (CO) Post


Denver International Airport had its busiest month ever in July, when more
than 4 million passengers used the airport. 
People are flying more thanks to low fares and less skittishness about
aviation as the impact fades from Sept. 11, 2001.

The passenger count hit 4.2 million in July, up 13 percent from the same
month in 2003.

While past monthly traffic reports also showed records at DIA, many of the
counts were inflated due to misstated passenger numbers for Ted, the
low-fare subsidiary of United Airlines that began operating in February,
airport officials said.

DIA was the fifth-busiest airport in the country for domestic travel during
the first half of the year, based on federal rankings.

DIA on Wednesday issued revised numbers for January through June, but said
that in spite of the revisions, passenger traffic is up 15.6 percent for the
first seven months of the year.
  
Low airfares are driving more traffic, particularly with the rise of
low-cost carriers, said Austan Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the
University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

Further, a strong economy means more business travel, he said. And among
leisure travelers, "maybe they were driving somewhere or maybe they weren't
even going on vacation but they say, 'Gee, if it only costs $69, let's take
a flight,"' he said.


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