Denver International Airport had a record-breaking January in 2014. Did legal marijuana have anything to do with it? (Denver Post file)

Denver airport’s busiest January ever coincides with first legal pot sales

Did legal marijuana make for a busier than normal January 2014 at Denver International Airport?

In early February we looked at the data for Colorado-bound flight searches in January 2014 that predicted DIA was going to see a mammoth month of traffic — potentially because of the Jan. 1 start of legal marijuana sales in the state, potentially because of Broncos playoff games or killer powder at the resorts in the Rockies.


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The official numbers released by DIA this morning prove at least part of that hypothesis correct: January 2014 saw a .8 percent increase over the airport’s travelers in 2013 — seeing a total of 4,056,858 passengers, the biggest January in the airport’s 19-year history.

“This January, Denver International Airport saw very strong origin and destination traffic from each of our major carriers: United, Southwest and Frontier, indicating that there were large numbers of people traveling to and from Denver,” Kim Day, Denver’s manager of aviation, said in a release. “When the airport sees record-breaking increases in passenger traffic, this translates to a positive economic outlook for the entire Rocky Mountain region and indicates that we are off to a strong and successful 2014.”