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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

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Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, and is the busiest airport in Texas. In terms of aircraft movements, it is the third busiest airport in the world. In terms of passenger traffic, it is the sixth busiest airport in the 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 four 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 shuttle bus to a commuter rail station just south of the airport. The Trinity Railway Express line serves both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth.

DFW has public Wi-Fi available provided by T-Mobile.

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.

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

Terminals

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DFW's terminals are connected by a complex network of roads and rapid transit.

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)

  • American Airlines (Domestic; Albuquerque, Anchorage, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Baton Rouge (seasonal), Birmingham (AL), Boston, Burbank, Charlotte, Chicago/Midway, Chicago/O'Hare, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Dayton, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Fayetteville (AR), Fresno, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Gunnison (seasonal), Hartford, Hayden/Steamboat Springs (seasonal), Honolulu, Houston/Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jackson Hole (seasonal), Jacksonville, Kahului, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louisville, McAllen, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mobile, Montrose (seasonal), Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, New York/JFK, New York/LaGuardia, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Providence, Raleigh/Durham, Reno/Tahoe, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), Santa Ana, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis, Tampa, Tucson, Tulsa, Vail (seasonal), Washington/Dulles, Washington/Reagan, West Palm Beach, Wichita)
    • American Eagle (Domestic; Abilene, Amarillo, Baton Rouge, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids, Champaign, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago/Midway, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, College Station, Columbia (SC), 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, 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, Oklahoma City, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Rochester (MN), Rochester (NY), San Angelo, Santa Barbara, Savannah, Shreveport, Springfield (MO), Syracuse, Texarkana, Toledo, Traverse City, Tulsa, Tyler, Waco, Wichita, Wichita Falls)

Terminal B (former Terminal 2W)

Terminal C (former Terminal 3E)

International Terminal D

International Terminal 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. It is considered a world-class airport terminal that is comparable to airports built in Asia recently.

The new International Terminal D is a two million-square foot terminal capable of handling 32,000 passengers daily or 11.7 million passengers annually. The terminal features 99 ticketing positions and a federal inspection facility capable of processing 2,800 passengers per hour. The concession areas consist of 100,000 square feet and features upscale shopping and fine dining. An arrivals canopy roof shields pedestrians from inclement weather as they enter and exit the terminal. A Grand Hyatt Hotel is integrated in the terminal and a new garage allows plenty of room for parking guests.

The new eight-level parking garage has over 8,100 parking spaces and uses a Smart Technology System that lets guests know which floors are full. Air-conditioned skybridges with moving walkways and elevators make the walk from the garage to the terminal easy and comfortable for all travelers flying in and out of the airport through Terminal D.

  • Aeroméxico (Mexico City)
  • Air Canada (Toronto/Pearson)
  • American Airlines (International; Acapulco (seasonal), Belize City, Buenos Aires, Calgary, Cancún, Caracas, Cozumel, Frankfurt, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo (seasonal), León, Liberia (CR) (seasonal), Lima, London/Gatwick, Los Cabos, Mexico City, Montego Bay (starts Feb. 3, 2006), Monterrey, Montréal, Nassau (seasonal), Osaka/Kansai, Paris/CDG, Puerto Vallarta, San Jose (CR), San Jose del Cabo, San Juan, Santiago, São Paulo, Tokyo/Narita, Toronto/Pearson, Vancouver, Zurich)
    • American Eagle (International; Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, León, Monterrey, Nassau, San Luis Potosí, Torreón)
  • British Airways (London/Gatwick)
  • Champion Air (charter)
  • Korean Air (Seoul/Incheon)
  • Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
  • Mexicana (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Morelia, Zacatecas)
  • Sun Country Airlines (Cancún, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
  • TACA (Guatemala City, San Salvador)

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

Terminal E (former Terminal 4E)

Terminal E remains partially empty after Delta Air Lines closed its Dallas/Fort Worth International Hub in February 2005. Southwest Airlines recently announced that it will market service from DFW to Midway Airport on ATA Airlines starting in January via a code-sharing arrangement.

Non-stop Destinations

See: Destinations served from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Future Destinations

Cargo

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport handles sixty percent of all air cargo in 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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