Denver International Airport moved up in the rankings to become the fourth-busiest U.S. airport from January through July.
DIA ranked as No. 5 a year earlier, according to a report released Monday by the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The BTS counted 13.96 million passengers at DIA during the seven-month period, a 4.7 percent increase from a year earlier.
DIA’s improved ranking pushed the Los Angeles airport down into the No. 5 space. Los Angeles had 13.92 million passengers.
Of the 10 busiest airports, Denver’s increase in passenger traffic was the largest.
The top three spots — belonging to Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth — remain unchanged. Atlanta’s 24.83 million passenger count is up 3.5 percent over last year. Chicago’s count was down 0.6 percent and Dallas’ was off by 2 percent.
For the month of July, DIA also ranked No. 4, with 2.29 million passengers, or 5 percent more than July 2006.
Atlanta’s 4.05 million passengers amounted to a 6.3 percent increase in traffic. Chicago and Dallas, still in the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively, recorded a slight drop in passenger counts for July of less than 1 percent.
Denver’s ranking includes both domestic and international flights. DIA didn’t make the top 10 in a ranking of airports with the most international passengers.
August was the second-busiest month in Denver International Airport’s history, with 4,691,621 passengers, the airport announced Thursday.
That was a 7 percent increase from August 2006.
The airport record was set in July, with 4,773,268 travelers passing through DIA.
DIA is on track to set another yearly record in 2007. After eight months, DIA’s passenger total is 4.6 percent ahead of the first eight months of 2006, when DIA set its yearly record of 47.3 million passengers.
Denver International Airport’s on-time arrival performance dropped drastically in August compared to the same month in 2006.Denver ranked 14th out of 32 major airports nationwide for on-time arrivals this August. Last August it was fourth, according to a report released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on Wednesday.
In August, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had the best record for on-time arrivals, and in New York came in last.
Year-to-date through August, DIA was number 12 for on-time arrivals; it came in sixth for the same period in 2006.
Year-to-date, Salt Lake City had the best record for on-time arrivals, and LaGuardia had the worst.
