US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy described the individual as a “trespasser”.
They “deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway,” he said in a statement on X, adding that the individual had been struck “during take-off at high speed”.
“The Frontier plane was then quickly evacuated while law enforcement and firefighters responded,” he said.
The 224 passengers and seven crew members disembarked via slides, before being bussed to the terminal building. Twelve suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospital.
Denver International Airport said in a statement on Facebook that the person was hit two minutes after jumping the fence. They are “not believed to be an employee of the airport nor have they been identified”, it said.
The airport closed the runway following the incident so it could investigate. An inspection of the fence had found it to be “intact”. The runway reopened on Saturday morning (local time).
“We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,” it added.
It is the second death at US airports in recent days. A 49-year-old Delta employee was killed at Orlando International Airport on Thursday after an aircraft-towing vehicle, known as a “tug”, collided with the jet bridge.
The airline said it was “working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred”.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.
