Denver International Airport Receives National Award for Outstanding Snow and Ice Removal Operations
Denver International Airport (DEN) has earned the prestigious Balchen/Post Award, a national honor recognizing airports with exceptional snow and ice removal programs, for the fourth time in its history. DEN was named the winner in the category of large commercial airports.
“We’re extremely proud of our snow teams for upholding the highest standards during challenging winter conditions and keeping one of the busiest airports in North America operating safely,” DEN CEO Phil Washington said. “As we continue to maintain our facility to the highest standards and prepare for 100 million passengers, our snow team maintains its reputation as one of the most efficient snow operations in the nation.”
For nearly 50 years, the Balchen/Post Award has been presented by the Northeast Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) at the International Aviation Snow Symposium (IASS) honoring airports in the commercial, general aviation and military categories. The award is based on a wide range of criteria for work during the 2024 – 2025 snow season that measures degree of in-depth preparedness, effectiveness of snow and ice control program, timeliness and accuracy of communications during the program and post-storm activity.
At 53 square miles, DEN is the nation’s largest commercial airport by land mass and manages snow removal operations that include six runways, 300 lane miles of roads (the distance from the airport to the Utah state line) and 30 acres of parking lots with approximately 40,000 parking spaces (more than 23 football fields). There are approximately 500 trained snow removal personnel, over 209 pieces of airside snow removal equipment and 48 pieces of landside snow removal equipment for roads and parking lots at DEN.
DEN’s airfield snow team averaged 17 minutes to clear a runway, and teams managed 47.7 inches of snow last season. In 30 years of operation, DEN has only closed the airfield six times due to snowy conditions.
