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Travel Disruptions from Irene Minimal at DIA

Courtesy of Denver International Airport

Airports in the New York area are open again after Tropical Storm Irene grounded more than 12,000 thousand flights over the weekend. But the overall impact on Denver International Airport has been minimal.

Today traffic at the country’s fifth-busiest airport is returning to normal, after relatively minor disruptions over the weekend, including the cancelation of more than 70 flights.

“Being a major international airport, whenever there’s a storm like we saw on the east coast this weekend, it’s going to impact travelers in some way, shape or form,” says DIA spokesman Jeff Green, who adds the effect on airport operations from local storms  is much greater. 

“We had the 77 flights that were canceled on Sunday. To put that in perspective, we have 1700 flights a day.  So it’s a very small percentage, even though it was a big storm and a big part of the country, it still didn’t impact our overall traveling public that much here in Denver,” Green says.

Eleven flights are canceled Monday from DIA – all of them arrivals. Overall, more flights were grounded by Tropical Storm Irene than by the pair of massive snowstorms that hit the east coast this past winter. And airlines warn it could take days for stranded passengers to find their way home. That’s because many flights are already full ahead of Labor Day weekend.

As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.
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