After being closed for more than a year, Denver International Airport will reopening its east economy parking lot Saturday in response to increasing passenger traffic.

The parking lot was closed in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic because of a drastic reduction in use due to public safety fears and travel restrictions. This summer, however, DIA is expecting some heavy traffic.

With the reopening, the only airport parking lots that remain closed are the Pikes Peak and Mount Elbert shuttle lots as well as the valet lot.

The east economy lot will reopen at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Rates in the east and west economy lots will remain at $17 per day or $5 per hour. Daily rates drop to $15 after the third day.

As the east economy lot reopens, the east garage will briefly close from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Tuesday.

During the closure, the garage will switch to a new system allowing contactless payment methods such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. The new payment system is already in place in the east economy lot, west economy lot and west garage.

While the east garage is closed, customers will be directed to the west garage. Cars already parked in the east garage will be able to leave during the closure, but must pay in the cashier payment lane only.