DIA is the third busiest airport in the world for a second year in a row

Denverites on social media may say Denver International Airport is the worst (though the shoe shiners are great!), that doesn't stop people from flying through the major hub.

DIA was the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic for the second year in a row in 2022, according to the Airports Council International, a trade association of the world's airports.

According to ACI's report, DIA served 69.3 million passengers last year, a 17.8% increase from 2021. That year, DIA was also considered the third busiest airport, serving 58.83 million passengers.

In 2020, the hub was ranked eighth in the world and in 2019 it was ranked 16th.

The check-in area for Southwest Airlines was crowded, above, while the meeting area for arrivals was quiet in the main terminal at Denver International Airport, Thursday morning, Dec. 12, 2022. A severe winter storm, with snow and temperatures dipping into the minus 10 range, meant many canceled or delayed flights here and across the country.

DIA is joined by four other airports in the United States in the top 10 list. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest with 93.7 million passengers, followed by Dallas Fort Worth Airport with 73.4 million passengers. Both airports were also in first and second place last year.

The other American airports include Chicago O'Hare Airport, which is below DIA with 68.3 million passengers and at No. 6 is Los Angeles International Airport with 65.9 million passengers.

ACI added that the U.S. airports rebounded quickly during the pandemic due to a strong domestic market. Those markets are recovering quicker than international travel. The five American airports on the list all have "significant domestic passenger shares (between 75% and 95% domestic traffic)."

In September 2022, DIA proposed a $1.33 billion budget for 2023 projecting that traffic will exceed pre-pandemic levels. The airport expects to see 74 million passengers in 2023.

These escalators will one day take Denver International Airport customers from a new upstairs security setup straight down to terminal trains. Oct. 28, 2022.

To accommodate the influx, DIA CEO Phillip A. Washington said the hub has been "working hard" to expand concourses via projects such as the Gate Expansion project where DIA "built 39 new concourse gates, increasing overall capacity at the airport by 30%." Construction has also begun on two new security checkpoints and travel corridors. There's also the work being done to the Great Hall Project.

DIA is also looking to beautify the hub with four art pieces spread across the news gates, including a piece from Thomas "Detour" Evans.

On the international side of things, DIA recently resumed nonstop flights to Tokyo's Narita International Airport via United Airlines in March. That service was suspended for almost three years due to the pandemic.