Denver could be second largest United hub by 2019

United Airlines plans to grow its hub at Denver International airport to 400 daily departures in 2019, potentially pushing it ahead of other hubs to become the second busiest. The "proposed" growth comes on the continued strong performance of the Denver hub, says captain Rob Biddle, United's chief pilot for Denver, in a letter to pilots Nov 10. "At that level we will surpass both [Houston Intercontinental's] and [Newark's] current daily totals respectively," he says. United is scheduled to operate an average of 363 daily departures from Denver in December. By comparison, it operates 521 from Chicago O'Hare, 484 from Houston Intercontinental and 377 from Newark. The carrier has grown in Denver since 2013. While its departures from the airport are down about 1% over the period, seat capacity is up more than 20%, schedules show. <br/>