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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

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DFW redirects here. For the cities, see Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

File:Dfw brand.gif

Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of Dallas City of Fort Worth
OperatorDFW Airport Board
ServesDallas / Fort Worth
Elevation AMSL607 ft / 185 m
Coordinates32°53′49″N 097°02′17″W / 32.89694°N 97.03806°W / 32.89694; -97.03806
Websitewww.dfwairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
13L/31R 9,000 2,743 Concrete
13R/31L 9,301 2,835 Concrete
17C/35C 13,401 4,085 Concrete
17L/35R 8,500 2,591 Concrete
17R/35L 13,401 4,085 Concrete
18L/36R 13,400 4,084 Concrete
18R/36L 13,400 4,084 Concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface
ft m
H1 158 48 Concrete
Statistics (2007)
Passengers59,784,876
Aircraft operations684,779

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW, ICAO: KDFW, FAA LID: DFW) is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth,[2] and is the busiest airport in the U.S. state of Texas.

With 684,779 aircraft movements in 2007[3], it is the third busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft movements. In terms of passenger traffic, it is the seventh busiest airport in the world transporting 59,784,876 passengers[1] in 2007. In terms of land area, at 18,076 acres (7,315 ha),[4] it is the largest airport in Texas, the second largest in the United States, behind Denver International Airport, and fourth largest in the world. It is the tenth busiest international gateway in the United States, behind Honolulu International Airport.[5] In 2006 the airport was named as "The Best Cargo Airport in the World" according to the second edition of a survey.[6][7]

The airport, within the incorporated cities of Euless, Grapevine, and Irving, serves 135 domestic destinations and 39 international, and is the largest and main hub for American Airlines (800 daily departures), and also the largest hub for American Eagle. Eighty four percent of all flights at Dallas/Fort Worth are operated by American Airlines. Delta Air Lines closed its Dallas/Fort Worth hub in February 2005 in an effort to cut costs. The airline shrank operations from 256 daily nonstop flights to 21.

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, ZIP Code, and Public Services. The United States Postal Service gave the airport its own city designation, DFW Airport, TX.[8] The members of the airport's Board of Directors are appointed by the "owner cities" of Dallas and Fort Worth. 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 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.

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. Both airports had scheduled airline service.

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 (GSW) in an attempt to compete with Dallas' more successful airport. However, GSW'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 GSW.

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 that they would unilaterally choose a site if both cities could not come to an agreement on a site, officials from the two cities finally agreed on a location for a new regional airport that was north of the abandoned GSW 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 BAC/Sud (now BAE Systems and Aerospatiale) Concorde in the United States occurred at DFW Airport in 1973 to commemorate the airport's completion. 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. The original name was Dallas Fort Worth Regional Airport. The name change to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport did not occur until 1985.[9] 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. Also in 1979, American Airlines moved its headquarters from New York to Fort Worth (adjacent to DFW on the former site of GSW). 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 in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. Today, Delta only flies from DFW to its four hubs.

After the closing of Delta's hub in 2005, 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.

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.

The four primary North-South runways (those closest to the terminals) were all lengthened from 11,388 ft (3471 m) to their current length of 13,400 ft (4084 m). The first of these, 17R/35L, was extended in 1996 (at the same time the new runway was constructed), and the other three (17C/35C, 18L/36R, and 18R/36L) were extended in 2005. DFW is now the only airport in the world with four serviceable paved runways longer than 4000 m.

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 trains run every few minutes and travel at speeds up to 35-37 mph.[10][11][12] Skylink is double tracked, permitting bi-directional operations. The Skylink system was acquired from Bombardier Transportation and has been well-received by passengers.

Skylink replaced the original Airtrans system (part of which was later operated as American Airlines' TrAAin system), which was notoriously slow at a top speed of 17 mph, uni-directional (though it was a state-of-the-art automated system when the airport opened) and whose stations were outside security. Later, the Airtrans at DFW was split into three separate systems, the regular Airport Train, an employee train, and the American Airlines TrAAin - the one that was inside security. All three utilized the same guideway, and the same type of vehicles; the only major difference being the stations used. It served the airport for 31 years from 1974 until 2005 and transported a quarter of a billion passengers between DFW's four terminals and employee facilities, logging a total of 97 million miles on its fleet. It was decommissioned about a month after Skylink opened.[13][14] The old Airtrans tracks leaving the terminal's north and south ends can still be seen from the Skylink.

Disasters at DFW

Disasters involving flights with a DFW connection

Incidents involving DFW

  • On December 20, 2007, American Airlines Flight 1538, an MD-80 flying from Dallas/Fort Worth to Orlando International Airport, had to return to Dallas/Fort Worth after the plane suffered an unexpected drop in altitude following a turbine failure in one of the two engines. None of the crew or 115 passengers were injured. [15]

Terminals, airlines and destinations

diagram of DFW

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has five terminals. The airport is designed with expansion in mind, and can theoretically accommodate up to thirteen terminals totaling 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, which is a "square U" shape) and built around the airport's central north-south arterial road, Spur 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 had to walk extremely long distances between gates (in order to walk from one end of the semicircular concourse to the other, one must walk the entire length; there were no shortcuts between the ends). 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.

Terminal A

American Airlines and its regional affiliate American Eagle have a large presence at Dallas/Fort Worth. The world's largest airline, in terms of passengers transported, operates its largest hub at DFW. The two airlines operate at four of the five terminals at the airport. Terminal A, previously called "Terminal 2E" when the airport was first opened, is fully occupied by American Airlines for domestic flights. Prior to the opening of Terminal D, Terminal A operated most of AA's international flights at the airport. During the late 1990s, a significant number of American Eagle flights moved to Terminal B. Also in the late 1990s, American Eagle built a Satellite Terminal (Named Satellite Terminal A2) due to the lack of aircraft gates. It was located near Terminal A and was only accessible via shuttle buses. Satellite Terminal A2 (Gates A2A-A2N) was abandoned in 2005 when American Eagle moved all operations to Terminals B and D. However tere are plans underway to redevelop the aging Terminal into a world class hub larger and more exclusive than international terminal D into becoming American Airlines exclusive Central Terminal.

Terminal A has 35 gates: A2-A29, A33-A39

  • American Airlines (Albuquerque, Anchorage [seasonal], Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Birmingham (AL), Boston, Burbank, Charlotte, Chicago-O'Hare, Colorado Springs, Columbus (OH), Dayton, Denver, Detroit, Eagle/Vail, El Paso, Fayetteville (AR), Fresno, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Gunnison [seasonal], Hartford/Springfield, Hayden/Steamboat Springs [seasonal], Houston-Intercontinental, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jackson Hole [seasonal], Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, McAllen, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montrose [seasonal], Nashville, New Orleans, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Newark, Norfolk, Oakland [ends September 2], Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario (CA), Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Raleigh/Durham, Reno/Tahoe, Richmond, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San Juan (PR), Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Tucson, Tulsa, Washington-Dulles, Washington-Reagan, West Palm Beach, Wichita)

Terminal B

This terminal was originally called "Terminal 2W" when the airport first opened. American Eagle occupies 16 gates at Terminal B. United Airlines is the only other airline that occupies the terminal as America West, Mesa Airlines, Midwest Airlines and US Airways relocated to Terminal E in July of 2006. Terminal B is the former Braniff Terminal. Prior to the opening of Terminal D, all non-AA international flights operated from this terminal.

Terminal B has 31 gates: B2-B16, B18-B21, B23-B25, B28-33, B33-B36, B39

  • American Airlines
    • American Eagle (Abilene, Alexandria, Amarillo, Baton Rouge, Buffalo [seasonal, begins June 1], Cedar Rapids, Champaign/Urbana, Charleston (SC), Chattanooga, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, College Station, Columbia (SC), Columbus (OH), Corpus Christi, Des Moines, Evansville, Fayetteville (AR), Flint, Fort Smith, Fort Walton Beach, Fort Wayne, Grand Junction, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Greenville (SC), Gulfport/Biloxi, Harrisburg, Houston-Hobby, Jackson, Killeen, Knoxville, Lafayette, Laredo, Lawton, Lexington, Little Rock, Longview, Louisville, Lubbock, Madison, Midland-Odessa, Milwaukee, Mobile, Moline/Quad Cities, Monroe (LA), Montrose [seasonal], Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Pensacola, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Rochester (NY), Roswell, San Angelo, Santa Barbara, Savannah, Shreveport, Springfield (MO), Syracuse, Texarkana, Tulsa, Tyler, Waco, Wichita, Wichita Falls)
  • United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, San Francisco, Washington-Dulles)

Terminal C

American Airlines operates all the gates at Terminal C, originally called "Terminal 3E" for only domestic flights.

Terminal C has 31 gates: C2-C4, C6-C8, C10-C12, C14-C17, C19-C22, C24-C33, C35-C37, C39

International Terminal D

International Terminal D designed by HKS, HNTB and Corgan Associates, opened in July 2005. The new terminal is a 2,000,000 sq ft (186,000 m2) facility capable of handling 32,000 passengers daily or 11.7 million passengers annually, with 28 gates and an integrated 298-room Hyatt Hotel. The terminal features 200 ticketing positions and a federal inspection facility capable of processing 2,800 passengers per hour. The concession areas consist of 100,000 sq ft (9,290 m2) of retail, including many dining and retail options.

International Terminal D

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 connect the garage to the terminal, and an arrivals canopy roof shields pedestrians from inclement weather as they enter and exit the terminal.

Terminal D has 29 gates: D6-D8, D10-D12, D14-D18, D20-D25, D27-D31, D33-D34, D36-D40

  • Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson)
  • American Airlines (International) (Some domestic flights (see Terminal A)) (Acapulco [seasonal], Belize City, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cabo San Lucas, Calgary, Cancún, Caracas, Cozumel, Frankfurt, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Honolulu, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo [seasonal], Kahului, Kona, León, London-Heathrow, Mexico City, Montego Bay [seasonal], Monterrey, Montréal, Nassau, Panama City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Providenciales, Puerto Vallarta, San José (CR), San Salvador, Santiago, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
    • American Eagle (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, León, Monterrey, Nassau, San Luis Potosí, Tampico, Torreón)
  • British Airways (London-Heathrow)
  • Champion Air (Cancún, Cozumel, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta) [scheduled charters; ends May 31]
  • KLM (Amsterdam)
  • Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
  • Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
  • Mexicana (Mexico City)
  • Qantas (Sydney)(begins 2009)
  • Sun Country Airlines (Anchorage [seasonal], Cancún, Cozumel [seasonal], Laughlin [seasonal], Minneapolis/St. Paul)
  • TACA (San Salvador)

Terminal E

Terminal E, originally called Terminal 4E, was occupied primarily by Delta Air Lines until Delta closed its hub in 2005 and retained only flights to its other hubs. Terminal E is distinctive in that it has a satellite terminal connected by an underground walkway. The satellite, previously used by Delta and later used by Delta Connection carriers, is currently unused. Terminal E is also only connected to other terminals only by the Skylink and is lacking the walkways that link other terminals.

Terminal E has 36 gates: E2-E38. Terminal E had customs facilities that were used when Delta operated flights to Frankfurt in the early 1990s. In the 2000s, Skyteam partner airlines Continental and Northwest moved to gates adjacent to Delta. Currently, airlines serving Terminal E include:

Cargo

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport handles sixty percent of all air cargo in Texas. Asia and Europe account for over 75% of the cargo at the 25th busiest cargo airport in the world.

In a recent survey by Air Cargo World, Dallas/Fort Worth ranked as "The Best Cargo Airport in the World". Frankfurt International Airport came in second, while Hong Kong International Airport and the world's busiest cargo airport, Memphis International Airport, tied for third. [3]

Trade data

Cargo carriers

References

  1. ^ a b ACI passenger statistics for 2007
  2. ^ DFW Airport press release, see section "About DFW International Airport", dated 12 February 2007, URL retrieved 25 February 2007
  3. ^ ACI aircraft movement for 2007
  4. ^ DFW Airport Facts
  5. ^ U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, T-100 Segment data, 2001
  6. ^ AirCargoWorld.com - Air Cargo Excellence Survey. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
  7. ^ DFWairport.com - Cargo Connects DFW To the World and DFW news release. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
  8. ^ "Contact Us," Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
  9. ^ History of DFW Airport
  10. ^ Bombardier Innovia Technology, Bombardier Transportation Website, 2006-02-03
  11. ^ Lea+Elliot Skylink Project, 2006-02-03
  12. ^ Corgan Associates press release, dated 20 May 2005, retrieved 14 February 2007
  13. ^ [1] Civil Aviation Forum, Airliners.Net Posted 2008-02-23
  14. ^ [2] Click on Airtrans
  15. ^ Flight Makes Emergency Landing After Explosion Noise, Drastic Drop - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando


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