Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

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Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW, ICAO: KDFW) is the third busiest airport in the world in terms of operations. The airport is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, and is the busiest airport in Texas. In terms of passenger traffic, it is the sixth busiest airport in world. In terms of land area, it is the largest airport in Texas, the second largest in the United States, and third largest in the world, with a larger ground area than the island of Manhattan. The airport serves 135 domestic destinations and 39 international, and is the largest and main hub for American Airlines (900 daily departures), the world's largest airline, and also the largest hub for American Eagle. Eighty four percent of all flights at Dallas/Fort Worth are operated by American Airlines. The airport is also a focus city for AirTran Airways and Sun Country Airlines. Delta Air Lines closed its Dallas/Fort Worth hub in early 2005 to avoid bankruptcy. The airline shrank operations from 256 daily nonstop flights to 21 since February.

The airport is often referred to by its IATA airport code, "DFW." It is operated in many ways like a small city. It has its own post office and its own ZIP Code. The members of the airport's Board of Directors are appointed by the "owner cities" of Dallas and Fort Worth. However, the airport is inside the city limits of three other suburban cities, a situation that has led to legal battles over jurisdiction (see below). To help ensure future harmony with its neighbors, the DFW Airport Board includes a non-voting member -- a representative chosen from the airport's neighbors (Irving, Euless, Grapevine, and Coppell) on a rotating basis.

DFW is connected by commuter rail with both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth via the Trinity Railway Express.

History

As early as 1927, before the area had an airport, Dallas proposed a joint airport with Fort Worth. Fort Worth declined the offer, and thus the two cities opened their own airports, Love Field and Meacham Field. Airlines offered service at both airports.

In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Administration earmarked $1.9 million for the construction of a Dallas-Fort Worth regional airport. American Airlines and Braniff Airways struck a deal with the city of Arlington to build an airport there, but the governments of Dallas and Fort Worth disagreed over its construction, and the project was abandoned in 1943. After World War II, Fort Worth annexed the site and developed it into Amon Carter Field with the help of American Airlines. Fort Worth transferred its commercial flights from Meacham Field to the new airport in 1953, which was now just 12 miles from Dallas Love Field. In 1960, Fort Worth purchased Amon Carter Field and renamed it Greater Southwest International Airport in an attempt to compete with Dallas' more successful airport. However, GSIA's traffic continued to decline relative to Love Field: by the mid-1960s, Fort Worth was getting 1% of Texas air traffic while Dallas was getting 49%, which led to the virtual abandonment of GSIA.

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American Airlines operates its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth
Skylink is the world's largest high-speed airport train
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DFW's Airtrans was state of the art when it opened
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Delta Air Lines closed its Dallas/Fort Worth hub back in early 2005 to avoid bankruptcy

The joint airport proposal was revisited in 1961 after the FAA refused to invest any more money in separate Dallas and Fort Worth airports. Although the Fort Worth airport was eventually abandoned, Dallas Love Field became congested and had no more room to expand. Following an order from the federal government in 1964, officials from the two cities finally agreed on a location for a new regional airport that was north of the abandoned GSIA and almost perfectly equidistant from the two city centers. The land was purchased by both cities in 1966, and construction began in 1969.

The first landing of a supersonic Concorde in the United States occurred at DFW Airport in 1973 to commemorate the airport's completion. The Concorde later served DFW in a cooperative agreement between Braniff Airways, British Airways, and Air France, before the demise of Braniff ended the service.

DFW Airport opened for commercial service on January 13, 1974. At the time, it was the largest and costliest airport in the world. Following the Wright Amendment of 1979, which banned long-distance flights from Love Field, DFW became the only airport in the metropolitan area to offer long-haul commercial air passenger service on aircraft with more than 56 passenger seats. In 1978, American Airlines moved its headquarters from New York to Fort Worth (adjacent to DFW on the former site of GSIA). American began its first hub at DFW in 1981, started flights to London in 1982, and started flights to Tokyo in 1987. Delta Air Lines built up a domestic hub at DFW during the same period, but announced its closure in 2004 in a restructuring of the airline to avoid bankruptcy.

After the closing of Delta's hub, DFW Airport offered incentives to Southwest Airlines to relocate its hub to DFW from Love Field. Southwest, as in the past, declined the offer, opting to remain at Love Field (DFW, in turn, opposes all efforts to expand Love Field operations). Additionally, the airport offered incentives to at least three other airlines to locate at DFW Airport, all of whom declined as well.

Also in 1989, the airport authority announced plans to rebuild the existing terminals and construct two new runways. After an environmental impact study was released the following year, the cities of Irving, Euless, and Grapevine sued the airport over its expansion plans, a battle that was finally decided (in favor of the airport) by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994. The seventh runway opened in 1996, and is said to have decreased air congestion throughout the United States by approximately 18 to 22 percent.

A new international terminal (Terminal D) opened in July 2005.

A new people mover system, named Skylink, opened in Spring of 2005 and is the world's largest high-speed airport train system. Totally automated, Skylink travels at speeds approaching 50 mph, and is also bi-directional. It has been well-received by passengers. Skylink replaced the original Airtrans system (part of which was later allocated to American Airlines' TrAAin system), which was notoriously slow and uni-directional (though it was a state-of-the-art automated system when the airport opened).

Disasters at DFW

Disasters involving DFW

Airport facts

  • Access to every major city in the continental United States within four hours fly time and an abundance of frequencies to major destinations.
  • DFW Airport has been a significant factor in the relocation and expansion of more than 400 corporate headquarters to Dallas-Fort Worth during the past decade.
  • DFW generates $14.3 billion annually for the North Texas economy and supports 268,500 full-time jobs.
  • High-speed wireless Internet access available in all terminals.
  • Two hundred-acre Rental Car Center consolidating DFW’s rental car companies under one roof

Travel Statistics (2004)

  • 59,412,217 passengers
  • 804,865 operations (takeoffs and landings)
  • 743,101 metric tons of cargo
  • 5,078,525 international passengers

Did You Know?

  • DFW is the world’s only airport with three FAA control towers.
  • In 1972, the world’s largest paving contract was issued for the construction of DFW’s initial runways - 3 million yards of concrete.
  • At the time DFW was built, it was the largest and costliest airport in the world: $700 million spent and 17,500 acres – bigger than the island of Manhattan.
  • The first U.S. landing by a supersonic Concorde was at DFW
  • DFW was the first U.S. airport to offer an automated foreign currency exchange machine.
  • The NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis and its Boeing 747 transport jet landed on May 15, 1989, making DFW the first commercial airport to host a space shuttle landing

Unlike other major international airports, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is only served by a few number of carriers. This is because American Airlines has built up a large hub next to its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. Since American Airlines operates over 84% of flights at the airport, it is evident that about all of the flights at DFW are operated by AA. Therefore, it is not easy for other international carriers to begin service because of the large presence that American Airlines has at DFW. A recent conference with several airlines discussed new service to Dallas/Fort Worth. Those interested were mostly European carriers including Air France which may resume service to Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Lufthansa which may add non-stop flights to the growing hub at Munich International Airport, and several others that were considering the new services. Other conference attendees included JetBlue Airways, Finnair, Virgin Nigeria, and several others as well.

Terminals

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has five terminals. The airport is designed to be expandable and can theoretically accommodate up to thirteen terminals totalling 260 gates, although this level of expansion is unlikely to be reached in the foreseeable future.

The terminals at DFW are semicircular (except for the newest terminal, Terminal D, though it is a "square U" shape) and built around the airport's central north-south arterial road, Texas Highway 97, also known as "International Parkway." Until the late 1990s, they were designated by a number (2 being northernmost, 4 being southernmost) and a letter suffix ("E" for East, "W" for West). This system was later scrapped, and the terminals are now lettered from A to E. Terminals A, C, and E (from north to south) are on the east side of the airport, while Terminals B and D (from north to south) are on the west side.

DFW's terminals are designed to minimize the distance between a passenger's car and airplane as well as reduce traffic around terminals. A consequence of this layout is that connecting passengers have to walk extremely long distances between gates; since DFW is American Airlines' largest hub, this has caused problems. The original people mover train (opened with the airport, but notoriously slow and uni-directional) was replaced by "Skylink" in April 2005, which serves all five terminals at a considerably higher speed and is bi-directional. It is also the world's largest high-speed airport train system.

The following destinations are not fully accurate. Please visit the airport website or the airline carrier website for the most accurate details of flights at Dallas/Fort Worth. Seasonal and future non-stop destinations are noted in parentheses.

Terminal A (former Terminal 2E)

Note: Beginning Oct. 29, all American Airlines international flights will move to Terminal D (International Terminal).

  • American Airlines (Acapulco (seasonal), Albuquerque, Anchorage, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Belize City, Birmingham (AL), Boston, Buenos Aires, Burbank, Calgary, Cancun, Caracas, Charlotte, Chicago/Midway, Chicago/O'Hare, Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Cozumel, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Fresno, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Frankfurt, Greensboro, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Gunnison (seasonal), Hartford, Steamboat Springs (seasonal), Honolulu, Houston/Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Ixtapa (seasonal), Jackson Hole (seasonal), Jacksonville, Kahului, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Leon/Guanajuato, Liberia (CR) (seasonal), Lima, London/Gatwick, London/Heathrow (via ORD), Long Beach, Los Angeles, Los Cabos, Louisville, Madrid (via MIA), McAllen, Mexico City, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mobile, Montego Bay (starts Feb. 3, 2006), Monterrey, Montreal, Montrose (seasonal), Nashville, Nassau (seasonal), Newark, New Orleans, New York/JFK, New York/LaGuardia, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orange County, Orlando, Osaka/Kansai (starts Nov. 1, 2005), Palm Springs, Paris/CDG, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Providence, Puerto Vallarta, Raleigh/Durham, Reno/Tahoe, Richmond, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San Jose (CR), San Jose Cabo, San Juan, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis, Tampa, Tokyo/Narita, Toronto, Tucson, Tulsa, Vail (seasonal), Vancouver, Washington/Dulles, Washington/Reagan, West Palm Beach, Wichita, Zacatecas, Zurich)
  • American Eagle (Abilene, Aguascalientes, Amarillo, Baton Rouge, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids, Champaign, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago/Midway (starts Oct. 30, 2005), Chihuahua, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, College Station, Columbia (SC) (starts Oct. 30, 2005), Columbus, Corpus Christi, Dayton, Des Moines, Detroit, Evansville, Fayetteville (AR), Fort Smith, Fort Walton Beach, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Greensboro, Greenville (SC), Gulfport/Biloxi (starts Dec. 15, 2005), Houston/Hobby, Houston/Intercontinental, Jackson, Killeen, Knoxville, Laredo, Lawton, Lexington, Little Rock, Longview, Louisville, Lubbock, Madison, Memphis, Midland/Odessa, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mission, Moline, Monterrey, Nassau, Oklahoma City, Peoria, Pittsburgh (starts Oct. 30, 2005), Rochester (MN), Rochester (NY), San Angelo, San Salvador, Santa Barbara, Savannah, Shreveport, Springfield (MO), Syracuse, Texarkana, Toledo, Torreon, Traverse City, Tulsa, Tyler, Waco, Wichita, Wichita Falls)
  • TACA (Guatemala City, San Salvador)
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Singapore Airlines operates cargo 4 times a week at Dallas/Fort Worth
Cathay Pacific operates cargo three times a week from Hong Kong
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Martinair operates cargo twice a week from Amsterdam, Netherlands

Terminal B (former Terminal 2W)

Terminal C (former Terminal 3E)

Terminal D

Termianl D opened in July 2005. The terminal has 28 gates and an integrated 298-room Hyatt Hotel. It was designed and built as an international terminal for all airlines serving DFW. Starting in late October 2005, American Airlines, American Eagle will move all international flights at the international terminal. Also, Grupo TACA will move operations from Terminal A to Terminal D.

In the near future, Cathay Pacific may regularly operate non-stop flights to Hong Kong International Airport.

Terminal E (former Terminal 4E)

Future Destinations

Cargo

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport handles sixty percent of all air cargo in Texas making it the busiest and largest airport in the state of Texas.

Trade data

The following cargo carriers are not fully accurate. Please contact the airport or the cargo carrier website for the most accurate details of air cargo at Dallas/Fort Worth.

Cargo carriers

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