Travelers looking to charge their mobile devices before boarding flights out of Denver International Airport won’t have to search so hard for outlets anymore.
The airport has installed nearly 10,000 charging points in the public seating areas throughout its three concourses.
Each of the more than 2,400 new “power hubs” includes two standard electrical outlets and two USB ports. There are 822 hubs on Concourse A, 1,265 hubs on Concourse B and 337 hubs on Concourse C.
The addition is a bigger deal for DIA than it may be for other airports, industry analyst Seth Kaplan said, because neither Southwest nor Frontier — two of DIA’s three largest carriers — offer in-seat power in their aircraft.
“People might not have in-seat power aboard the aircraft, so they have this anxiety about boarding without their devices being fully charged,” Kaplan said. “It seems like some people are valuing power on board an aircraft even more than in-flight entertainment. ‘I’ve got everything I need on this device, but I need power.’ ”
Airlines appreciate the move, too, Kaplan said, because having convenient access to charging ports before a flight can alleviate some of that pre-board stress, contributing to a more positive travel experience for passengers.
Access to power is an amenity airline passengers expect, Airfarewatchdog founder George Hobica said. Contemporary travelers are loaded down with smartphones, laptops, readers, tablets and gaming devices for themselves — and their kids.
“A lot of these airports were built long before people had mobile devices, and they haven’t been updated,” Hobica said. “At some of the older airports, you still find people camping out on the floor by the outlets the cleaning crew uses to (plug in a) vacuum. I think it really does annoy people.”
The installation of the 9,696 individual charging points was included in DIA’s $4.7 million capital improvement plan, which began in November.
DIA has also invested nearly $2.5 million to improve its free, public Wi-Fi service, airport CEO Kim Day said in a statement.
While Wi-Fi and charging stations might not be the first things that come to travelers’ minds when choosing an airport, they may be a consideration for those who are connecting through Denver.
About 35 percent of DIA’s traffic comes from connecting flights, Day said in June at a Metro Mobility event.
“Word gets around,” Kaplan said. Frequent travelers may prefer some airports over others “because they have various kinds of amenities, and power would be one of those things. It’s not the first consideration, but it is a consideration.”
