Security how long

The numbers remain high and are projected to surpass pre-pandemic levels by early next year. In a wide-ranging press conference Friday, CEO Phil Washington asked for patience during the surge, saying the airport was struggling to meet demand due to capacity limits and labor shortages in almost every department.

Washington, who took the CEO job three months ago, outlined several immediate changes to help meet projected demand during the upcoming holiday season. Airport staff will shoehorn the new TSA lines into the existing security infrastructure as soon as possible, Washington said.

He did not offer a clear timeline for the project. Starting this weekend, the Pikes Peak shuttle lot will open on a temporary basis.

The space has been closed for months due to ongoing bus driver shortages. The solution would require drivers to use smaller vans to ferry passengers from the lots to the airport. Numbers plunged during due to the pandemic, but the airport projects volume to reach 80 million by and million by Many of its current challenges stem from the fact that the facility was built to serve roughly 50 million passengers each year, Washington said.

Several long-term construction projects are in the works to expand capacity, but some have hit roadblocks in recent years. Inside the terminal Friday, security lines snaked well into the baggage claim area.

Passengers said they were surprised by how busy the airport was, but some noted premium options like TSA PreCheck helped them reach their flights in time. DIA posted a notice on their website saying:. Wait times are exceeding 60 minutes and could grow. Please arrive at DEN at least two hours in advance of your flight.

General hours of operation at DEN are:. Skip to content. Local Business Listings. Traffic Watch. Viewhouse Sports Blitz. Friday Night Endzone. Station Jobs. Meet the Team. The result has been a grinding experience for passengers — though nothing lately has approached the scale of the security backup Aug. But sometimes that legwork can underestimate the crowd crush at a particular checkpoint, catching TSA off guard with some lanes closed. At the same time, lately TSA has opened a Precheck lane only at the south checkpoint during crunch times, prompting complaints from members.

The construction walls that cut into the north checkpoint are accommodating an expansion on the upper level , where a new security screening area is expected to increase that capacity — but not until early