Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) could add up to 100 daily departures out of Denver International if it obtains all gates it hopes for during the airport's ongoing expansion, Chief Revenue Officer Andrew Watterson told The Denver Post.
The Coloradoan hub is currently adding 39 new gates as part of a USD1.5 billion investment project. Southwest Airlines hopes to obtain all 16 new gates at Concourse C, where it already has 24 gates.
Using the existing infrastructure, Southwest Airlines already operates 1,468 weekly departures from Denver. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, the LCC has a 27.4% market share by capacity at the airport and is the second-largest operator after United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare). The latter carrier hopes to add 11 gates after the airport expands its terminals. Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver International), the third-largest airline at Denver airport, is also planning to increase the number of gates, although it would not give a specific number yet.
Denver is also already the second-largest hub for Southwest after Chicago Midway. By adding around 100 departures per day, Southwest would make Denver by far its busiest gateway.
