Denver International Airport has been named the third-busiest airport in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row, according to the preliminary rankings released Monday from the Airports Council International.

The airport, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, also kept its ranking as the sixth-busiest airport in the world in 2024.

DIA just had another record year. More than 82 million passengers went through the airport, up 5.8% from 2023.

Atlanta, Dubai, Dallas, Tokyo and London were the top five busiest airports in the word. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport recorded more than 108 million passengers last year, growing by 3.3%.

The busiest airports after Denver include Istanbul, Chicago O’Hare, New Delhi, and Shanghai.

Istanbul is behind Denver by more than 2 million passengers, though it saw a slower growth rate of 5.3%.

Meanwhile, Chicago is catching up to challenge Denver’s position in North America.

Chicago jumped from the fifth-busiest airport on the continent in 2023 to the fourth, taking over Los Angeles International Airport.

Chicago, like Istanbul, saw more than 80 million passengers —but it had a faster growth rate of 8.3%.

In 2023, O’Hare was behind Denver by nearly 4 million. And this year, the gap shrunk in half to about 2 million passengers. 

Denver is working toward hitting the 100 million passenger milestone as part of its Vision 100 plan.

DIA projects it’ll hit its goal by 2032. But the milestone could come sooner than expected, as the airport’s annual Environmental, Social and Governance Report said DIA should prepare to serve 100 million passengers as soon as 2027.

One of the largest areas of growth for the airport is in international travel, which surged by 15%.

DIA said it kept its rankings because its largest airlines have increased their capacity at the airport as well as the expansion of several new carriers including major international routes with Aer Lingus to Dublin and Turkish Airline flights to Istanbul.

“In the last year we welcomed new airlines and new routes as well as expanded service from existing airlines,” the airport’s CEO Phil Washington said in a press release.

The airport is the largest economic engine in the state and generates more than $47.2 billion annually, according to DIA.

“Maintaining our ranking as the third busiest airport in North America further demonstrates our dedication to strengthening our position as a global hub and our airport’s continued, thoughtful growth,” he added.