Denver International Airport’s longest-ever flight — a nonstop leg from Denver to Istanbul — will take to the skies for the first time Tuesday evening. The new Turkish Airlines flight will carry Colorado travelers 6,130 miles to Istanbul, marking the longest flight in DIA history, airport officials announced in April. The flight will take about 13 hours, longer than the 12-hour, 5,788 mile direct flight between Denver and Tokyo. “This new partnership is expected to produce over $54 million in annual economic impact for Colorado and approximately 350 new jobs,” airport officials said. The first ..read more

Memorial Day weekend was busy at Denver International Airport and beyond and airlines are gearing up for more big crowds this summer. United Airlines had its biggest-ever Memorial Day weekend and expects the rest of the summer travel season to be super-charged. Southwest Airlines logged roughly 152,000 passengers taking off from Denver during the holiday weekend and just under 150,000 arriving. Southwest reported a total of 2.1 million customers across its system. And Airlines for America, an industry trade group, is forecasting that U.S. airlines will fly 271 million passenger worldwide this ..read more

Lost and damaged wheelchairs are such a prevalent problem in U.S. air travel that federal officials have proposed new rules that could slap airlines with six-figure fines when mishaps occur. But an attempt to give Coloradans more power to seek compensation for problems they experience with their mobility devices at Denver International Airport faltered at the State Capitol as the recent legislative session wrapped up. A key sponsor accused DIA and city officials of undermining the bill, including by pushing lawmakers to water it down. State Rep. David Ortiz, the first wheelchair user to serve ..read more

A Southwest flight conducted an emergency landing at the Colorado Springs Airport on Monday after the crew smelled smoke in the cabin, according to a statement from Southwest. Southwest Flight 1070 was flying from Denver to Tampa on Monday evening when flight attendants reported a possible smoke smell in the cabin. The crew diverted the flight and conducted an emergency landing, deplaning at COS around 8:40 p.m. Passengers were accommodated on other aircrafts to Tampa, according to a Southwest spokesperson. More information on the source of the smell is not yet available. Related Articles Ai ..read more

By NAPAT KONGSAWAD (Associated Press) BANGKOK — Aviation investigators arrived in Bangkok Wednesday to learn how and why severe turbulence sent a Singapore Airlines plane into a sudden dive that tossed passengers and crew around the cabin, leaving a British man dead and dozens others injured. Twenty people remained in intensive care in hospital after Flight SQ321, which was flying from London’s Heathrow airport to Singapore, hit the turbulence Tuesday over the Andaman Sea. The Boeing 777, which carried 211 passengers and 18 crew members, descended 6,000 feet (around 1,800 meters) in about thre ..read more

Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signed into law a measure that aims to provide relief to those living in the shadows of Colorado’s airports, which have been blamed for exposing people beneath flight paths to noise pollution and lead contamination. But as the governor was putting pen to paper, an airplane’s engine buzzed overhead — an irony that prompted laughter in the crowd attending the bill signing at Wildflower Park in Superior. The town sits just down the hill from the runways of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. “This bill doesn’t do everything,” state Sen. Steve Fenberg, a Boulder Democra ..read more

Southwest Airlines has recruited Denver sport mascots Dinger, Rocky and Bernie to help with a new marketing campaign that highlights what the carrier touts as flexible policies on baggage, change and cancellation fees and reward points. The Dallas-based airline kicked off a national  publicity push called “The Big Flex” last week and unveiled ads and signs Monday in Denver. The Denver-focused advertising features Dinger from the Colorado Rockies, Rocky from the Denver Nuggets and Bernie from the Colorado Avalanche. In a bit of good timing, Southwest’s local campaign got underway as the Nu ..read more

Southwest Airlines is ending flights to four major airports — three of which are currently served by nonstop routes from Denver International Airport — and cutting back on flights to two others, the airline announced Thursday. Starting Aug. 4, Southwest will no longer fly in or out of Bellingham International Airport in Washington state, Cozumel International Airport in Mexico, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Syracuse Hancock International Airport in New York state, according to a news release from Southwest Airlines. The airline will also reduce operations at Hartsfield-Jac ..read more

Denver International Airport will change its overnight security checkpoint times starting May 5, according to the Transportation Security Administration. TSA will no longer operate security checkpoints and bag scans from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. South Security, which operates 24/7, is the only checkpoint impacted by this change. Bridge security closes at 5:45 p.m. and reopens at 4:30 a.m. and West security closes at 7:30 p.m. and reopens at 4 a.m. “This change was made to ensure that our staff is allocated at the appropriate times throughout the day when flights are operating when we have the most, or ..read more

The summer travel season is close on the horizon and there’s turbulence between flight attendants and at least two of the airlines in Denver, including the airport’s largest carrier. About 70 United Airlines flight attendants staged informational picketing Thursday at Denver International Airport to focus attention on what they say is a lack of progress in contract negotiations after nearly three years. The airport was one of 18 across the country where flight attendants picketed. “There really is not much movement despite record profits and bonuses to employee executives,” said Chris Bruton ..read more