"DIA's No. 5 ranking to slip"

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

DIA's No. 5 ranking to slip
Phoenix, Las Vegas airports projected to surpass Denver in traffic counts by
2010
By David Kesmodel
The Denver (CO) Rocky Mountain News


Passenger traffic at the international airports in Phoenix and Las Vegas
will surpass the traffic at Denver International Airport by 2010, making DIA
the nation's seventh-busiest airport, an aviation consulting group predicted
Tuesday.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International will rise to the fifth-busiest airport in
2008, slipping past DIA, and McCarran International in Las Vegas will
leapfrog over DIA into the No. 6 spot in 2010, said the forecast by The Boyd
Group of Evergreen.

In Phoenix and Las Vegas, "tourism is great, the population is growing and
income is growing," said Brian Simpson, senior analyst with The Boyd Group.

DIA will continue to increase its traffic, but the other airports will grow
faster, the report says.

The study projects that DIA's traffic in 2010 will be 18 percent higher than
it was in 2000. Phoenix will grow by 33 percent and Las Vegas by 26 percent.

DIA's rate will be the seventh-highest in the -nation. Phoenix and Las Vegas
will rank third and fourth, respectively.

The Boyd Group released the report at its ninth annual aviation forecasting
conference in Denver.

The report assumes United Airlines, which is in bankruptcy, will emerge
successfully and remain the dominant carrier at DIA.

Simpson called DIA "fundamentally strong."

In Phoenix and Las Vegas, the major airlines are America West and Southwest,
both thriving discount carriers.

DIA's traffic is expected to reach an all-time high this year, exceeding the
record in 2000.

Phoenix and Las Vegas have ranked close to DIA in traffic levels recently,
with Phoenix trailing DIA by fewer than 100,000 fliers last year.

"We're growing at a phenomenal rate," said Sally Covington, DIA's head of
marketing.

The traffic ranking is only one measure of an airport's success, she said.
More important is an airport's breadth of service to communities.

"It's more important for us to bring in more international service rather
than to be fifth" in traffic, she said.

DIA is seeking a third nonstop flight to Europe. It wants Lufthansa or
another carrier to begin Denver to Munich, Germany, service. DIA's only
service to Europe is Denver to London on British Airways and Denver to
Frankfurt, Germany, on Lufthansa. DIA has no nonstop service to Asia.

The nation's four busiest airports, in order, are Hartsfield-Jackson in
Atlanta, O'Hare in Chicago, Los Angeles International and Dallas/Fort Worth
International.


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