Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington weighs in on operations ahead of holidays

Every year, Denver International Airport welcomes a growing number of travelers.

"I've definitely noticed that Denver can be a little crazy. It can be confusing," one traveler told CBS News Colorado.

The holidays can be filled with heartwarming reunions.

"Love you buddy," a father said to his son coming home from Army training camp on Thursday.

"I love you, too," his son said.

But all those reunions can make for some of the busiest travel days of the year.

In 2022, chaos crippled airports across the country.

"Denver was sort of the epicenter for a lot of that," Denver Airport CEO Phil Washington said.

While much of the travel debacle landed on the airlines, Washington says they learned their own lessons

"There was a number of staffing things that we could have helped Southwest out with, and they acknowledge that there were a number of things that they could have done better, but that after action review really helped," he added.

It doesn't explain those lengthy security lines. Washington says part of the issue is the model used to assign Transportation Security Administration agents to airports. They have 100 fewer today than in 2019.

"Why are we seeing a decrease while at the same time our growth is going up? And so a lot of that went into the questions we asked and we were explained that model," Washington explained. 

Washington, along with Colorado lawmakers, are pushing to get more full-time employees.

As they work to increase those numbers, the airport has launched a reservation system, added additional pre-check lines to help and in January new security lines will open.

"Seventeen new security lanes, state-of-the-art security equipment that is going to relieve a lot of the security wait times we have seen," Washington said.

Despite all the adjustments the infrastructure is not keeping up with demand and bigger changes are coming. To start, they need a backup plan for the concourse trains and are considering a bridge.

"That alternative is not cheap," Washington said. "These are huge spans that would go from (concourse) A to B and from B to C, but we need to look at it."

When it comes to theft in the parking lots, Washington says they continue to look for solutions, but increased security measures put in place at the beginning of the summer are helping.