Passenger traffic for October 2010 surpassed the reported figures for the same month of 2008, a benchmark year for DIA and the first time the airport saw 50 million travelers come through the facility. The 2010 numbers represent a 7.6 percent increase, or 315,489 more travelers, over the 4,154,157 passengers reported for October 2008. Looking at the first ten months of 2008 versus the first ten months of 2010, passenger traffic has increased by 1.1 percent of those record numbers.

“The positive growth trend we’ve seen at DIA throughout 2010 is a compelling indicator that the aviation industry is recovering from the recession,” Aviation Manager Kim Day said. “Based upon these results, we’re fairly certain that we’ll once again reach the 50 million passenger mark before the end of this year and are on track for a record-breaking year overall.”

October also brought an eight percent increase in flight operations, which rose from 49,952 in 2009, to 53,956 in 2010. Cargo saw an increase of 9.3 percent with 49,332,136 pounds of total cargo handled in October 2010, compared to 45,138,300 pounds during the same month last year.