Denver — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper alongside Colorado U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette, Ken Buck, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen, and Yadira Caraveo called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to work with Denver International Airport to improve wait times for passengers.

“We write to request that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) take all appropriate steps to fully deploy resources at Denver International Airport (DEN) in response to the unprecedented increase in travelers the airport has experienced this past year,” wrote Bennet, Hickenlooper, and the lawmakers.

Denver International Airport is the country’s third busiest airport and passenger traffic is expected to grow to a record 78 million passengers this year. However, a lack of transparency into TSA’s staffing formula has limited the airport’s ability to respond to its increased volume of travelers.

“At the moment, DEN does not have the necessary TSA roles to meet this demand, which has resulted in longer than expected wait times for security lines. In fact, TSA has allocated fewer roles for DEN than it did in 2019, when passenger volume was lower,” continued the lawmakers. “Understanding TSA's resource allocation would allow DEN to develop its own standards for passenger traffic forecasting and operations management, especially as the airport experiences seasonal, weekly, and daily fluctuations in visitors.”

The text of the letter is available HERE and below.

Dear Administrator Pekoske: 

We write to request that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) take all appropriate steps to fully deploy resources at Denver International Airport (DEN) in response to the unprecedented increase in travelers the airport has experienced this past year. 

DEN is the third busiest airport in the United States. It is the region’s largest economic engine and generates over $36 billion annually. 

In recent months, DEN’s passenger traffic has grown at an extraordinary pace. In June alone, 6.7 million passengers traveled through DEN. The airport expects to welcome a record total 78 million passengers this year – five million more than originally expected. 

At the moment, DEN does not have the necessary TSA roles to meet this demand, which has resulted in longer than expected wait times for security lines. In fact, TSA has allocated fewer roles for DEN than it did in 2019, when passenger volume was lower. 

To that end, we urge you to provide DEN with transparency into TSA’s resource allocation, and the model that underpins it. Understanding TSA's resource allocation would allow DEN to develop its own standards for passenger traffic forecasting and operations management, especially as the airport experiences seasonal, weekly, and daily fluctuations in visitors.

We are pleased to hear that a meeting is scheduled to discuss these issues. We hope that this will give TSA more insight into the extreme uptick in passenger traffic at DEN and provide meaningful steps to address it. 

We are grateful for the successful partnership that DEN and TSA have built over the past several years, and we applaud TSA’s efforts to help DEN to open its new state-of-the-art West passenger screening security checkpoint in February. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with TSA to better serve Coloradans and all visitors to our state.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to discussing this issue further with you and members of your team.