Denver International Airport (DEN) has shared plans for new improvements and expansions, targeted to be complete by the year 2045.
In a press conference earlier this month, DEN CEO Phil Washington outlined a number of improvements for the travel hub, including expanding the airport’s famous tented Jeppesen Terminal with additional check-in counters and TSA checkpoints, as well as building four new concourses that will house 100 new gates.
Unlike the airport’s B and C concourses, the newly proposed concourses will be walkable from the main terminal.
Though DIA is still working on its Great Hall construction project, which began in 2022, the airport will begin planning initial elements of the expansion next year.
Washington added that the airport will begin the building process in phases, starting with the north end of the Terminal. Though it remains to be seen which airlines will operate at the new gates, Washington said a number of airlines are already interested, including United Airlines, who announced plans to make DEN one of its biggest hubs earlier this year.
“We’re preparing it for the immediate time frame with security, wait time improvements and things like that, but we’re also looking out to 2045 as well because I think that it is our responsibility as infrastructure professionals to prepare for the next generation of passengers that come through here, even 20 or 30 years from now,” Washington said.
DIA leadership expects that the airport will reach the milestone of 120 million passengers serviced by 2045.
The airport also plans to improve existing concourses with new carpets and bathrooms, in addition to building a new consolidated rental car facility and adding cars to the train that connects airport concourses.
In regards to traffic congestion issues on nearby Peña Boulevard, DIA is currently conducting a study that looks at highway expansion, as well as the potential for adding a new lane.
Featured image from Denver International Airport.
