By Joey Gerardi
Denver Opens New Commuter Gates
Denver International Airport is in the middle of a big expansion project adding tons of new gates to its existing concourses, and one such improvement is the new commuter airline gates. The new ground-level gates at the end of the C concourse will replace the current ground-level gates in terminal A.
The hallway leading to the old commuter gates in Terminal A (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
As most know, a lot of the trip reports and articles I do are of flights to small Essential Air Service communities. You might even recognize the above picture from past trip reports like Boutique Air to Phoenix, Denver Air Connection’s famous Metroliner, and most recently my flight from Chicago to Denver on Denver Air Connection. These two airlines along with Southern Airways Express will be the three airlines that will utilize the new commuter gates in the C terminal.
The new commuter section is a breath of fresh air for those that travel on the three small carriers, and won’t be banished to the end of terminal A. Before the opening of these gates on June 7, 2022, those traveling on Boutique Air, Denver Air Connection, and Southern Airways Express had to walk down a long and relatively empty hallway to the very end of the A terminal. This hallway used to be where all of the Great Lakes Airlines flights departed before the airline ceased operations in 2018, but since then this part of the terminal has sat completely empty except for the very end where the commuter airlines operated from before July 7.
The former home of SAE, BTQ, and DAC (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)
The new gate assignments are as follows: Boutique Air will be at C 69, Southern Airways Express at C71, and Denver Air Connection will be at both C68 and C70. Although they are only at four gates, the three airlines will split the eight common-use aircraft parking spots. They will also have six parking spots for aircraft remaining in Denver overnight.
The new commuter airline gates at Denver Airport (Photo: Denver Airport)
The term ‘common use’ means that no airline is assigned to a specific spot, and they use whichever spots are available and even interchange them throughout the day. Passengers will then walk out from the preassigned terminal gate doors to whichever parking spot in which they will be departing. The new gates will also feature revolving doors which is a very unique feature, as well as automatic doors.
The automatic and revolving doors leading outside (Photo: Denver International Airport)
These gates will be directly under the new Terminal C expansion, so passengers will have much better access to charging ports, food, pet relief area, and shops than in their previous home in Terminal A.
The new home of Denver’s commuter airlines (Photo: Denver International Airport)
The below video is a walk-through of the old commuter airline gates in Terminal A:
Joe has always been interested in planes, for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. Being from a non-aviation family made it harder for him to be around planes and would only spend about three hours a month at the airport. He was so excited when he could drive by himself and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. When he has the time (and money) he likes to take spotting trips to any location worth a visit. He’s currently enrolled at Western Michigan University earning a degree in Aviation Management and Operations.