Denver International Airport, locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At 33,531 acres, it is the largest airport in the Western Hemisphere by land area and the second largest on Earth, behind King Fahd International Airport. Runway 16R/34L, with a length of 16,000 feet, is the longest public use runway in North America and the seventh longest on Earth. The airport is 25 miles (40 km) driving distance northeast of Downtown Denver, 19 miles (31 km) farther than the former Stapleton International Airport, the facility DEN replaced: the airport is actually closer to the City of Aurora than central Denver, and many airport-related services, such as hotels, are located in Aurora.

Southwest Airlines Co. is a major airline in the United States that operates on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in Love Field, Dallas, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. As of 2018, Southwest carried more domestic passengers than any other United States airline. It is currently the third largest airline in North America based on passengers flown.