COLORADO
Passenger traffic at Denver's Stapleton International Airport rose again in May 1% over the same month a year ago, Denver officials reported.
The increase occurred despite a 38% drop in the number of enplaned passengers at Continental Airlines. In May, Continental announced a flight cutback to 86 flights a day and has since cut back to 59 flights a day as part of a downsizing of the airline's Denver hub.
The number of enplanements at Continental fell to 530,000 from 858,000 in May. Getting on and off a plane adds up to one enplanement.
While Continental was cutting back, United and other airlines increased their traffic, leading to the overall increase. United passenger enplanements rose 20% to 1.56 million during May, city statistics show.
"These figures support our feeling that flight reductions by Continental Airlines will have little effect on our overall traffic totals," said city aviation director Jim DeLong.
Although summer traffic at Stapleton will probably decrease because of Continental's cutbacks, "we believe other carriers will step in to take up most of the slack," DeLong said.
Other airlines increasing traffic at Stapleton during May compared with the same month of last year were American, up 11% to 89,500; Delta, up 9% to 96,000; Morris, up 9% to 21,300; and Mark Air, up 1,428% to 65,000 passengers.
Analysts consider enplanements the most important aspect supporting Denver International Airport, which has not yet opened because of a faulty baggage system.
-- Keith DuBay, Denver
