# Denver International Airport (DEN)

> Denver, US · IATA: DEN · ICAO: KDEN · Large Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `DEN` |
| ICAO | `KDEN` |
| City | Denver |
| Country | US |
| Type | Large Airport |
| Elevation | 1655 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | 39.86170, -104.67300 |

## Description

Third-busiest passenger airport on the planet, mid-table freight player — Denver International wears both labels at once. More than 82 million travelers passed through in 2025, anchored by United's largest hub and Frontier's home base, yet the cargo ledger reads a comparatively modest 733 million pounds (roughly 332,000 tonnes) — a record for DEN nonetheless, handled by FedEx, UPS, DHL and Amazon Air at the north cargo campus. What the airport lacks in tonnage it makes up in geography: between Kansas City and Salt Lake City there is no other major air freight gateway, making DEN the default routing for the entire Rocky Mountain region. Truckers connect via Peña Boulevard and the E-470 tollway to I-70 and I-25, while BNSF and Union Pacific run intermodal ramps across metro Denver; CBP clears freight on-site and Foreign-Trade Zone 123 covers the property. Two superlatives matter operationally: the second-largest airport site in the world (53 square miles) leaves room to build for decades, and at 5,431 feet of elevation the 16,000-foot runway 16R/34L — North America's longest commercial strip — gives heavy freighters the roll they need in thin air. In 2026 Southwest Cargo opened a nearly 30,000-square-foot facility with six loading docks and twice the previous cooler space, adding fresh capacity for perishables.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/denver-international-airport-den](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/denver-international-airport-den)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/denver-international-airport-den](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/denver-international-airport-den)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/denver-international-airport-den/llm-summary*