Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport File:Dfw brand.gif | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | City of Dallas City of Fort Worth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator | DFW Airport Board | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Serves | Dallas / Fort Worth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 607 ft / 185 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 32°53′49″N 097°02′17″W / 32.89694°N 97.03806°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www.dfwairport.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- DFW redirects here. For the cities, see Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW, ICAO: KDFW, FAA LID: DFW) is located between the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth,[3] and is the busiest airport in the U.S. state of 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 transporting 60,079,107 passengers in 2006. In terms of land area, at 18,076 acres (73.2 km²),[4] it is the largest airport in Texas, the second largest in the United States, and fourth largest in the world. It is the tenth busiest international gateway in the United States, behind Honolulu International Airport.[5] The airport was recently 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 129 domestic destinations and 36 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 airport is even given its own city designation, DFW Airport, TX. 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.
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.[8] 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.[9][10][11] 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' TrAAm 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
- On the afternoon of August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 on a Fort Lauderdale-Dallas/Fort Worth-Los Angeles route, crashed at DFW Airport (claimed to happen because of a microburst), killing 8 of 11 crew members, and 128 of the 152 passengers on board, as well as 1 person on the ground.
- On August 31, 1988, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, a Boeing 727 which was bound to Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah, crashed after takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Only 2 of 7 crew members and 12 of 101 passengers perished.
Disasters involving flights with a DFW connection
- On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, which was flying on a Houston-Dallas/Fort Worth-Montreal route, made an emergency landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Kentucky; about half of the passengers died of smoke and fire.
- On June 1, 1999, American Airlines Flight 1420 crashed upon landing at Little Rock National Airport at Little Rock, Arkansas on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth, killing the pilot and 10 of the 139 passengers.
Notable Incidents
In the summer of 2006, FAA air traffic controllers at DFW weathered scathing criticism following their handling of a potentially catastrophic fuel emergency involving an American Airlines 757. When the pilot of American Airlines Flight 489 reported a critically low fuel supply and declared an emergency, he was given direct vectors to the airport by Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center. However, approach controllers twice stubbornly refused, due to management's decision not to temporarily stop takeoffs, to accommodate the pilot's urgent, and specific, request for a straight-in approach to Runway 17C, instead directing him to circle around and approach Runway 31R, which was the active runway during the time of the incident. The pilot acquiesced to the controller's instructions, and the aircraft was able to land safely, but ABC News aviation expert John Nance would later characterize the controller response as "unforgivable". Dallas TV station WFAA and reporter Dan Ronan also documented that the plane was in a very dangerous condition with regards to fuel and shortly after landing and while taxing to the gate, one of the engines ran out of fuel.
[12]
Terminals, airlines and destinations
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has five terminals. The airport is designed with expansion in mind, 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, 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. It is also the world's largest high-speed airport train system.
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 was abandoned in 2005 when American Eagle moved all operations to Terminals B and D.
- American Airlines (Albuquerque, Anchorage [seasonal], Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Baton Rouge [seasonal], Birmingham (AL), Boston, Burbank, Charlotte, Chicago-O'Hare, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Colorado Springs, Columbus, 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, Mobile, Montrose [seasonal], Nashville, New Orleans, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Newark, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario (CA), Orange County, Orlando, Palm Springs, Pensacola, 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, 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.
- American Airlines
- American Eagle (Abilene, Alexandria, Amarillo, Baton Rouge, Cedar Rapids, Champaign/Urbana, Charleston (SC), Charlotte, Chattanooga, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, College Station, Columbia (SC), Columbus, Corpus Christi, Dayton, Des Moines, Detroit, Evansville, Fayetteville (AR), Flint, Fort Smith, Fort Walton Beach, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Greenville (SC), Gulfport/Biloxi, Harrisburg, Houston-Hobby, Houston-Intercontinental, Jackson, Killeen, Knoxville, Lafayette, Laredo, Lawton, Lexington, Little Rock, Longview, Louisville, Lubbock, Madison, McAllen/Mission, Memphis, Midland-Odessa, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Moline/Quad Cities, Monroe (LA), Montrose [seasonal], Oklahoma City, Peoria, Pittsburgh, Rochester (NY), Roswell, San Angelo, Santa Barbara, Santa Fe [begins December 13], Savannah, Shreveport, Springfield (MO), Syracuse, Texarkana, Tulsa, Tyler, Waco, Wichita, Wichita Falls)
- United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, San Francisco, Washington-Dulles)
- United Express operated by Shuttle America (Chicago-O'Hare, Denver)
- United Express operated by SkyWest (Los Angeles)
Terminal C
American Airlines operates all the gates at Terminal C, originally called "Terminal 3E" for only domestic flights.
- American Airlines (See Terminal A)
International Terminal D
International Terminal D designed by HKS, HNTB and Corgan Associates, opened in July 2005. The new terminal is a two million 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. (9,300 m²) emphasizing an upscale shopping and dining experience.
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.
- Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson)
- American Airlines (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, León, Liberia [seasonal], London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow [begins March 29], Mexico City, Montego Bay [seasonal], Monterrey, Montréal, Nassau, Panama City [seasonal; begins December 13], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Providenciales [seasonal; begins December 13], Puerto Vallarta, San José (CR), San Juan (PR), Santiago, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
- American Eagle (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, León, Monterrey, Nassau, San Luis Potosí, Torreón)
- British Airways (London-Gatwick [ends March 28], London-Heathrow [begins March 29])
- Champion Air (Cancún, Cozumel, Las Vegas, Montego Bay, Puerto Vallarta) [charters]
- KLM (Amsterdam) [begins March 30 [1] ]
- Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
- Mexicana (Mexico City)
- Sun Country Airlines (Cancún, Cozumel [seasonal], Laughlin [seasonal], Minneapolis/St. Paul, Puerto Vallarta [seasonal])
- 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 connected to the other terminals only by the Skylink train and, unlike the other terminals, does not have a walkway connecting to the other terminals.
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:
- AirTran Airways (Atlanta, Orlando)
- Alaska Airlines (Seattle/Tacoma)
- ATA Airlines (Chicago-Midway)
- Continental Airlines (Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
- Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines (Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Salt Lake City)
- Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (Atlanta)
- Delta Connection operated by Comair (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky)
- Delta Connection operated by Freedom Airlines (New York-JFK) [begins November 1]
- Delta Connection operated by Shuttle America (New York-JFK) [ends October 31]
- Delta Connection operated by SkyWest (Salt Lake City)
- Frontier Airlines (Denver, Mazatlán [seasonal])
- Mesa Airlines
- Mesa Airlines operated by Air Midwest (El Dorado, Hot Springs, Joplin)
- Midwest Airlines (Milwaukee)
- Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
- Northwest Airlink operated by Compass Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul) [begins January 7]
- Northwest Airlink operated by Mesaba Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
- Northwest Airlink operated by Pinnacle Airlines (Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul)
- US Airways (Charlotte, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Phoenix)
- US Airways Express operated by Mesa Airlines (Phoenix)
- US Airways Express operated by Republic Airlines (Philadelphia, Washington-Reagan)
Former airlines
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
- Asia 48%
- Europe 34%
- Latin America 9%
- Middle East 3%
- Indian subcontinent 2%
- Oceania 2%
- Africa 1%
- Rest of World 1%
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
- Air China Cargo (Beijing)
- Air Transport International
- Airborne Express
- Air France Cargo (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Alpine Air Express
- Ameriflight
- Caribbean Transport Services
- Cathay Pacific Cargo (Hong Kong)
- China Cargo (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- Emery Worldwide
- Estafeta
- EVA Air Cargo (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- FedEx
- JALCARGO (Tokyo-Narita)
- Kitty Hawk
- Korean Air Cargo (Anchorage, Miami, Seoul-Incheon)
- Lufthansa Cargo (Frankfurt)
- Singapore Airlines Cargo (Singapore)
- UPS
Trivia
- The airport has installed additional fee-based electrical outlets to charge laptops and other mobile devices on a pay-per-use basis.[13]
- DFW was also the first airport in the USA to receive the supersonic Concorde; and is also one of only four USA airports (along with Washington/Dulles, New York/Kennedy, and Miami) to ever feature scheduled Concorde service.
- Because of the airport's massive size, it is one of the few airports in the world with fully integrated, multiple control towers. It is the only operational commercial airport in the world with three towers. (Most airports have only one.)
References
- ^ FAA Airport Form 5010 for DFW PDF
- ^ Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, official web site
- ^ DFW Airport press release, see section "About DFW International Airport", dated 12 February 2007, URL retrieved 25 February 2007
- ^ DFW Airport Facts
- ^ U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, T-100 Segment data, 2001
- ^ AirCargoWorld.com - Air Cargo Excellence Survey. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
- ^ DFWairport.com - Cargo Connects DFW To the World and DFW news release. Retrieved 18 September 2006.
- ^ http://www.dfwairport.com/visitor/history.htm
- ^ Bombardier Innovia Technology, Bombardier Transportation Website, 2006-02-03
- ^ Lea+Elliot Skylink Project, 2006-02-03
- ^ Corgan Associates press release, dated 20 May 2005, retrieved 14 February 2007
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0S4IhtsXgw
- ^ http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81817
External links
- Official Website
- QTVR tour of DFW control tower
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF), effective September 5, 2024
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KDFW
- ASN accident history for DFW
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS weather observations: current, past three days
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KDFW
- FAA current DFW delay information
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