Passenger traffic at Denver International Airport dropped more than 50% in 2020 from the previous year, a level not seen since 1997.

The pandemic ravaged air travel levels worldwide last year. Just 33.7 million passengers passed through DIA gates in 2020, a 51% drop from 2019 – which had capped six years of “record-setting growth,” according to a Monday news release.

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But DIA shows signs of recovering quicker than other U.S. airports, CEO Kim Day said in a statement.

“After starting the spring with a precipitous 96% plunge in passenger traffic, DEN’s traffic has rebounded better than we predicted, and finished 2020 ahead of our projections,” Day said.

Day said DIA “is positioned well financially and has a strong domestic network that will help us continue our recovery.”

Airport officials expect DIA to rank in the top three of busiest American airports, behind Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth, once final 2020 passenger traffic numbers are released from other airports.

Volume at TSA checkpoints was down 62% in 2020, compared to a 54% drop in Denver’s TSA stations.

The slowest day at DIA in 2020 was April 15, when just 2,026 travelers passed through, On April 15, 2019, 56,386 passengers were reported.

Officials stated the airports “meaningful recovery” began in June and continued through Dec. 28 when DIA “ranked #1 or #2 U.S. airport in TSA throughput for 22 of 31 weeks.”

“DEN’s performance speaks directly to the airport’s strong domestic demand profile since international travel was minimal through most of 2020,” according to the release.

International travel dropped 70% at DIA in 2020, marking the first year since 2003 DIA handled less than one million international travelers.