- Denver International Airport (IATA: DEN, ICAO: KDEN, FAA LID: DEN), locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At 33,531 acres (52.4 sq mi; 135.7 km2), it is the largest airport in the Western Hemisphere by land area and the second largest on Earth, behind King Fahd International Airport. Runway 16R/34L, with a length of 16,000 feet (3.03 mi; 4.88 km), is the longest public use runway in North America and the seventh longest on Earth. The airport is 25 miles (40 km) driving distance from Downtown Denver, 19 miles (31 km) farther than the former Stapleton International Airport, the facility DEN replaced: the airport land was originally part of Adams County until the construction of the airport in 1995, and is actually located in between Commerce City and Aurora with the Southwest side connecting strip of neighborhoods (on the route of Peña Blvd) being the only connection with the rest of the city of Denver: many airport-related services, such as hotels, are located in Aurora.
