denver international airport

The largest airport in the United States of America and certainly one of

the biggest airports in the world, Denver International Airport (DEN) was once named as the best airport in the United States by both Time Magazine and Business Traveler Magazine.

DEN is also one of the busiest airports in the world, primarily due to its

geographical location. At any given time, DEN serves as the main hub for at least three airlines. Currently, it is the home base of Frontier Airlines, Great Lakes Airlines and Ted, which is a subsidiary of United Airlines. United Airlines itself has DEN as its secondary hub and Southwest Airlines has significant operations coming from DEN.

DEN has a distinct design among airports in the United States. The

Jeppesen terminal has a tension fabric roof which is supposed to resemble the Rocky Mountains in winter. Following a pinwheel pattern, DEN has one main terminal and three concourses. The Jeppesen terminal is connected to Concourse A via a pedestrian bridge. The total area of DEN is bigger than the City and County of San Francisco and the airport's facilities is capable of expanding further to accommodate two more concourses.

Ground Transport

Because Concourse A is the only concourse physically connected to Jeppesen terminal through the pedestrian bridge, it is the only concourse that can be accessed by walking. Passengers using this bridge may watch airplanes taxiing directly underneath them. Providing ground transport to all three concourses is an underground train system, the main access of which is in the central hall of Jeppesen terminal.

Traveling between DEN and other destinations in Denver and the nearby city

of Aurora is possible through the five skyRide bus routes operated by the Regional Transportation District. Taxis are also available for the travelers' convenience. DEN has a specific helpdesk to provide transportation information, and this helpdesk is located at Level 5 of Jeppesen terminal.

Car Parks and Car Hire

DEN has a good number of parking spaces for its customers, with two parking areas located at both east and west sides of Jeppesen terminal for short- term use. To transport passengers from the long-term parking areas to Jeppesen terminal, DEN provides free shuttle services. Each car park has space for around 7,000 cars. Valet parking is available on both east and west sides of Jeppesen terminal and can be accessed through the Arrivals roadway.

Car rental desks are located at the fifth level of Jeppesen terminal. The

rental car companies operating in DEN are Advantage, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National, Payless and Thrifty.

Hotels within the Airport

Currently, there are no hotels at the airport itself, although there are plans for building a 500-bedroom property at the Jeppesen terminal. There are nonetheless a number of hotels within the vicinity of DEN, which include Courtyard Denver Airport, Hilton Garden Inn Denver Airport, Holiday Inn Denver International Airport, Hyatt Place and La Quinta Inn and Suites. Most of the hotels around DEN provide free shuttle services for their customers to and from DEN.

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written by Rohan, December 31, 2007

A really nice airport with beautiful architecture and is fairly easy to get around. The location is really awkward as the airport is a good 30 minutes drive from downtown. What people don't know is that the city of Denver actually wanted this airport to be far out, so that there would be less noise over the city. Anyway, DIA is a nice airport, but immigration will still about 30-45 minutes and security usually only takes about 10 minutes.

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