Denver International Airport has second-longest walk to the gate of any U.S. airport, new report finds
Apr 29, 2026, 2:21 PM
If catching a flight at Denver International Airport sometimes feels like a hike, there’s data to back that up.
DIA ranks as the No. 2 U.S. airport for longest walking distance from the terminal entrance to the farthest gate, requiring travelers to cover 1.14 miles to reach the most remote boarding area, according to a 2026 report by KURU Footwear that analyzed airport maps and terminal data at major airports nationwide.
Only Dallas Fort Worth International Airport posted a longer walk, at 1.50 miles across its five terminals and 171 gates. Washington Dulles International came in third at 0.97 miles.
The numbers reflect DIA’s outsized footprint. At 52.38 square miles, it is one of the largest airports by land area in the United States — more than twice the size of Manhattan. Its single Jeppesen Terminal feeds passengers into three concourses — A, B and C — connected by an underground train system.
Concourse B, the airport’s longest, stretches roughly 4,545 feet end to end, a walk that takes approximately 23 minutes, according to Upgraded Points, a travel research site. Concourse A runs about 4,000 feet (20 minutes), and even the train ride from the terminal to Concourse A — where passengers also have the option of walking across a pedestrian bridge — takes several minutes.
Concourses B and C are accessible only by train, meaning the walk measurements assume riders use the automated system for at least part of the journey.
The KURU Footwear report ranked the five longest airport walks in the U.S.:
- Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) — 1.50 miles
- Denver International (DEN) — 1.14 miles
- Washington Dulles International (IAD) — 0.97 miles
- Orlando International (MCO) — 0.70 miles
- (Fifth-place airport not fully specified in available data)
On the opposite end, the airports with the shortest walks from entrance to gate were:
- Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN), New Jersey — 0.03 miles
- Paine Field (PAE), Washington — 0.04 miles
- Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN), Connecticut — 0.05 miles
- Lihue Airport (LIH), Hawaii — 0.06 miles
- Harrisburg International (MDT), Pennsylvania — 0.12 miles
