Air travel looks very different now than it did just a few years ago when the coronavirus pandemic grounded folks around the world, putting a halt to travel for both leisure and business.
In 2020, passenger traffic on U.S. airlines was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, with just 369 million passengers. In 2021, the U.S. started to get back to more normal air travel levels, and by 2022, the country was up to 853 million airline passengers. By the looks of it, 2023 is likely to outpace those numbers and return to pre-pandemic levels—nearly 3 million people flew in and out of U.S. airports daily as of April 2023, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Organization.
When you're at the airport, shuffling around with your roller bag, backpack, neck pillow, and water bottle among the thousands of other passengers doing the same, you're probably not too concerned with more than your flight. Is it on time? Who will be sitting next to you? Did your checked bag make it onto the plane?
But when you're not in flight mode, you may be wondering where all of the other folks at your local airport are traveling to. To answer that question, Stacker compiled a list of the most common domestic flights from Denver International using data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Destinations are ranked by total passengers from October 2022 to September 2023.
Read on to find out if your flight patterns are similar to your fellow Denver International travelers.
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#20. Newark Liberty International (Newark, NJ)
- Passengers: 498,574 (1.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 498,151
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 262
--- #3. JetBlue Airways: 161
#19. John Wayne Airport-Orange County (Santa Ana, CA)
- Passengers: 507,777 (1.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 231,147
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 214,617
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 61,882
Orhan Cam // Shutterstock
3 / 20#18. Washington Dulles International (Washington, DC)
- Passengers: 513,305 (1.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 422,810
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 90,393
#17. Sacramento International (Sacramento, CA)
- Passengers: 518,471 (1.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 246,707
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 238,786
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 32,607
#16. Austin - Bergstrom International (Austin, TX)
Nadia Yong // Shutterstock
6 / 20#15. Portland International (Portland, OR)
- Passengers: 600,698 (1.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 278,161
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 211,819
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 63,709
Songquan Deng // Shutterstock
7 / 20#14. Orlando International (Orlando, FL)
- Passengers: 668,797 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 261,445
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 232,101
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 173,428
Thiago Leite // Shutterstock
8 / 20#13. LaGuardia (New York, NY)
- Passengers: 675,773 (1.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 294,293
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 184,896
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 98,452
Dancestrokes // Shutterstock
9 / 20#12. San Diego International (San Diego, CA)
- Passengers: 730,481 (2.1% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 299,065
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 295,176
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 135,438
#11. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (Houston, TX)
#10. Salt Lake City International (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Passengers: 817,808 (2.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 301,734
--- #2. Delta Air Lines: 197,326
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 120,267
#9. Dallas/Fort Worth International (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX)
- Passengers: 831,000 (2.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. American Airlines: 440,627
--- #2. United Air Lines: 207,593
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 163,892
ostreetphotography // Shutterstock
13 / 20#8. Minneapolis-St Paul International (Minneapolis, MN)
- Passengers: 858,445 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 276,361
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 248,392
--- #3. United Air Lines: 190,653
Pete Niesen // Shutterstock
14 / 20#7. San Francisco International (San Francisco, CA)
- Passengers: 890,385 (2.5% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 586,625
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 177,392
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 125,906
kan_khampanya // Shutterstock
15 / 20#6. Seattle/Tacoma International (Seattle, WA)
#5. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (Atlanta, GA)
- Passengers: 918,972 (2.6% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Delta Air Lines: 483,367
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 186,123
--- #3. United Air Lines: 129,644
Strike First // Shutterstock
17 / 20#4. Los Angeles International (Los Angeles, CA)
- Passengers: 958,497 (2.7% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 509,768
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 261,519
--- #3. Delta Air Lines: 112,193
marchello74 // Shutterstock
18 / 20#3. Chicago O'Hare International (Chicago, IL)
- Passengers: 1,002,584 (2.9% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. United Air Lines: 661,835
--- #2. Southwest Airlines: 204,725
--- #3. American Airlines: 135,560
Nate Hovee // Shutterstock
19 / 20#2. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (Phoenix, AZ)
- Passengers: 1,169,022 (3.3% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 535,149
--- #2. United Air Lines: 291,722
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 193,067
randy andy // Shutterstock
20 / 20#1. Harry Reid International (Las Vegas, NV)
- Passengers: 1,190,753 (3.4% of all passengers)
- Top carriers:
--- #1. Southwest Airlines: 480,746
--- #2. United Air Lines: 329,847
--- #3. Frontier Airlines: 280,374
This story features data reporting by Rob Powell, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 199 metros.
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