Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW, ICAO: KDFW, FAA LID: DFW) is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas.
Not to be confused with Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C..
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
Public
Cities of Dallas and Fort Worth
DFW Airport Board
September 23, 1973
Central Standard Time (CST) (−06:00)
Central Daylight Time (CDT) (−05:00)
607 ft / 185 m
81,764,044
81,764,044
689,569
774,033.8 tons
It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartered near the airport,[2] and is the third-busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements and the second-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic in 2022 and 2023, according to the Airports Council International.[3][4] As of 2021, it is the sixth-busiest international gateway in the United States and the second-busiest international gateway in Texas (behind Houston-IAH).[5] The hub American Airlines operates at DFW is the second-largest single airline hub in the world and the United States, behind Delta Air Lines's hub in Atlanta.[6]
Located roughly halfway between the major cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, DFW spills across portions of Dallas and Tarrant counties and includes portions of the cities of Grapevine, Irving, Euless, and Coppell.[7][8] At 17,207 acres (26.89 sq mi; 69.63 km2), DFW is the second-largest airport by land area in the United States after Denver International Airport covering an area larger than Manhattan in New York City.[9][10] It has its own post office ZIP Code, 75261, and United States Postal Service city designation ("DFW Airport, TX"), as well as its own police, fire protection, and emergency medical services.
DFW Airport has service to 254 destinations (191 domestic, 63 international) from 28 passenger airlines. As of April 2023, DFW Airport has service to more nonstop destinations than any other airport in North America. Every major city in the Contiguous United States can be flown to in four hours or less. It is also the largest carbon neutral airport in the world and the first in North America to achieve this status.[11]
History[edit]
Planning[edit]
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 each city opened its own airport, Love Field in Dallas and Meacham Field in Fort Worth, each of which had scheduled airline service.
In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Administration earmarked US$1,900,000 (equivalent to $41,300,000 in 2023) 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 1942. After World War II, Fort Worth annexed the site and developed it into Amon Carter Field[12] with the help of American Airlines. In 1953, Fort Worth transferred its commercial flights from Meacham to the new airport, which was 12 miles (19 km) from 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' airport, but 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 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) refused to invest more money into separate Dallas and Fort Worth airports. While airline service had steeply declined at both GSW and Meacham, Love Field was congested and had no more room to expand. Following an order from the federal government in 1964 that it would unilaterally choose a site if the cities could not come to an agreement, officials from the two cities finally agreed on a location for a new regional airport that was just north of the near-abandoned GSW and almost equidistant from the two city centers. The land was purchased by the cities in 1966 and construction began in 1969. The cost of the first phase of Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport was estimated at $700 million.
Voters went to the polls in cities throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to approve the new North Texas Regional Airport, which was named after the North Texas Commission that was instrumental in the regional airport coming to fruition. The North Texas Commission formed the North Texas Airport Commission to oversee the planning and construction of the giant airport. Area voters approved the airport referendum and the new North Texas Regional Airport would become a reality.[13] However, many Dallas residents remained satisfied with Love Field, and an attempt to establish an independent Dallas Fort Worth Regional Airport Authority—despite strong backing from the Dallas Chamber of Commerce and Dallas mayor J. Erik Jonsson—failed when Dallas voters rejected the proposal by a narrow margin. After further negotiation, the cities instead established an appointed airport board consisting of seven members from Dallas and four from Fort Worth and were able to persuade all existing air carriers at Love, GSW, and Meacham to move to the new regional airport.[14][15]
Under the original 1967 airport design, DFW was to have pier-shaped terminals perpendicular to a central highway. In 1968, the design was revised to provide for semicircular terminals, which served to isolate loading and unloading areas from the central highway, and to provide additional room for parking in the middle of each semicircle.[16] The plan proposed thirteen such terminals, but only four were built initially.[17][18]