Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

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 and Meacham Field, each of which had scheduled airline service.

In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Administration earmarked US$1,900,000 (equivalent to $36,700,000 in 2021) 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[16] with the help of American Airlines. In 1953, Fort Worth transferred its commercial flights from Meacham Field to the new airport, which was 12 miles (19 km) 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' airport, but GSW's traffic continued to decline relative to Dallas 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 in separate Dallas and Fort Worth airports. While airline service had steeply declined at both GSW and Meacham, Dallas 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 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.

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.[17] 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 and GSW to move to the new regional airport.[18][19]

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.[20] The plan proposed thirteen such terminals, but only four were built initially.[21][22]

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (IATA: DFW, ICAO: KDFW, FAA LID: DFW) in 2013

DFW held an open house and dedication ceremony on September 20–23, 1973, which included the first landing of a supersonic Concorde in the United States, an Air France aircraft en route from Caracas to Paris.[20] The attendees at the airport's dedication included former Texas Governor John Connally, Transportation Secretary Claude Brinegar, U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe.[23] The airport opened for commercial service as Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport on January 13, 1974, at a cost of $700 million. At the time of DFW's opening, at 17,500 acres (27.3 sq mi), it was the largest airport in the world ever constructed in terms of land area.[24] The first flight to land was American Airlines Flight 341 from New York, which had stopped in Memphis and Little Rock.[25] The surrounding cities began to annex the airport property into their city limits shortly after the airport was developed.[8] The name change to Dallas/Fort Worth International did not occur until 1985.

An innovative feature of the airport during its early history was the Vought Airtrans, the world's first operational fully automated people mover system. Later rebranded as the Airport Train and the TrAAin ("AA" signifying American Airlines), the system ultimately encompassed 13 mi (21 km) of fixed guideways and transported as many as 23,000 persons per day at a maximum speed of 17 mph (27 km/h).[26]

American Airlines is headquartered near DFW, the airline's primary hub.

When it opened, DFW had four terminals, numbered 2W, 2E, 3E and 4E.[21] During its first year of operations, the airport was served by American Airlines, Braniff International Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, Frontier Airlines,[N 1] Ozark Air Lines, Rio Airways and Texas International Airlines.[27] The Wright Amendment of 1979 banned long-distance flights into Love Field,[28] leaving Southwest Airlines as Love Field's only jet airline and operating solely as an intrastate air carrier in the state of Texas.[29]

Braniff International Airways was a major operator at DFW in the airport's early years, operating a hub from Terminal 2W with international flights to South America and Mexico from 1974, London from 1978, and Europe and Asia from 1979, before ceasing all operations in 1982.[30] During the Braniff hub era, DFW was one of only four U.S. airports to have scheduled Concorde service; Braniff commenced scheduled Concorde service from Dallas to Washington from 1979 to 1980, using British Airways and Air France aircraft temporarily re-registered to Braniff while flying within the United States. British Airways later briefly flew Concordes to Dallas in 1988 as a substitute for its ordinarily scheduled DC-10 service.[20]

Following airline deregulation, American Airlines (which had already been one of the largest carriers serving the Dallas/Fort Worth area for many years) established its first hub at DFW on June 11, 1981.[31] American finished moving its headquarters from Grand Prairie, Texas, to a building in Fort Worth located on the site of the old Greater Southwest International Airport, near DFW Airport on January 17, 1983; the airline began leasing the facility from the airport, which owns the facility.[32] By 1984, the American hub occupied most of Terminal 3E and part of Terminal 2E.[33] American's hub grew to fill all of Terminal 2E by 1991.[34] American also began long-haul international service from DFW, adding flights to London in 1982 and Tokyo in 1987.[35]

Delta Air Lines also built up a hub operation at DFW, which occupied most of Terminal 4E through the 1990s.[33][34] The Delta hub peaked around 1991, when Delta had a 35% market share at DFW; its share was halved by 2004, after many of its mainline routes were downgraded to more frequent regional jet service in 2003.[36] Delta constructed a satellite terminal in Terminal E in 1988 to accommodate their hub, which was permanently reopened in May 2019 for American Eagle operations.[37][38] Delta closed its DFW hub in 2004 in a restructuring of the airline to avoid bankruptcy, cutting its DFW operation to only 21 flights a day from over 250 and redeploying aircraft to hubs in Cincinnati, Atlanta and Salt Lake City. Prior to the closure, Delta had a 17.3% market share at DFW.[39]

In 1989 the airport authority announced plans to rebuild the existing terminals and add two runways. After an environmental impact study was released the following year, the cities of Irving, Euless and Grapevine sued the airport over its extension plans, a battle that was finally decided (in favor of the airport) by the US 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 feet (3,471 m) to their present length of 13,400 feet (4,084 m). The first, 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 4,000 metres (13,123 ft).

Terminal D, built for international flights, and DFW Skylink, a modern bidirectional people mover system, opened in 2005.[40][41] The remaining Airport Train system, which had been mostly replaced by buses in 2003, had been fully decommissioned weeks earlier.[26] In September 2014, the largest commercial aircraft in the world, an Airbus A380 owned by Australian airline Qantas, made the first arrival at DFW ever by an A380, and was handled at Concourse D.[42]

From 2004 to 2012, DFW was one of two US Army "Personnel Assistance Points" that received US troops returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for rest and recuperation. This ended on March 14, 2012, leaving Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the sole Personnel Assistance Point.[43]

Airports Council International (ACI) named DFW Airport the best large airport with more than 40 million passengers in North America for passenger satisfaction in 2016.[44]

In June 2018, DFW Airport opened a fully functioning, free standing emergency room on airport grounds, located in Southgate Plaza near the Airport Headquarters and Rental Car Center. With this opening, the facility became the first actual ER on an airport's property anywhere around the globe.[45]

DFW Airport tentatively completed a $2.7 billion[46] "Terminal Renewal and Improvement Program" (TRIP), which encompassed renovations of three of the original four terminals (A, B, and E). Work on the project began following the conclusion of Super Bowl XLV in February 2011. Terminal A was the first terminal to undergo these renovations, which were completed in January 2017 at a cost of about $1 billion.[47] This was followed by the completion of Terminal E in August 2017 and Terminal B in December 2017. While Terminal C was originally part of the multibillion-dollar renovations, American Airlines in 2014 asked to delay renovations of the terminal. Terminal C is now slated to be renovated along with the project to construct a new terminal, Terminal F, to be completed sometime in 2025.[48]

On May 20, 2019, DFW Airport and American Airlines announced plans to build a sixth terminal. The proposed project is estimated to cost $3–3.5 billion and was expected to finish as soon as 2025.[49] Along with the addition of up to 24 new gates to Terminal F, renovations of Terminal C are planned to take place, as it is the last terminal that has not been updated in recent years.[50] The goal of the new terminal is to "provide the region with the growth it needs to compete with international business centers," according to CEO of DFW Airport, Sean Donohue.[49] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing of the project is currently in flux.[51]

On November 3, 2022, Frontier Airlines[N 1] announced that it will establish a crew operating base at DFW for up to 340 pilots and flights attendants in early 2023, and will add a gate in Terminal E to accommodate flights to additional destinations starting in April of that year.[52]

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has five terminals and 188 gates;[13] these terminals are in the City of Grapevine.[8] DFW's terminals are designed to minimize the distance between a passenger's car and airplane, and to reduce traffic around terminals. A consequence of this layout used to be that connecting passengers needed to walk long distances, however the addition of the SkyLink train with two stops in each terminal has reduced walking distances to around 500 feet on average. The Skylink rail system connects all five terminals inside the secured area.[41] Terminal Link connects all terminals with a shuttle bus system on the non-secure side.[53] All non-precleared international flights are processed in Terminal D, which also has a gate to accommodate an Airbus A380. This terminal is where American Airlines’ Oneworld international partners fly to and have a sizable presence (British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Qatar).[54] All non-American Airlines domestic carriers and pre-cleared flights from Canada use Terminal E.[55]

• Terminal A has 25 gates.[13]
• Terminal B has 43 gates.[13]
• Terminal C has 32 gates.[13]
• Terminal D has 32 gates.[13]
• Terminal E has 41 gates.[13]

The Hyatt Regency DFW Airport hotel is directly adjacent to Terminal C, while the 298-room Grand Hyatt DFW Hotel is directly connected to Terminal D.[56][57]

The International Parkway Toll Road intersects the airport.

The DFW Airport area is served by International Parkway (partially State Highway 97 Spur), which runs through the center of the airport, connecting to Airport Freeway (State Highway 183) on the southern side of the airport and John W. Carpenter Freeway (State Highway 114) on the northern side. International Parkway continues north of State Highway 114, carrying the State Highway 121 designation for a short while until its interchange with the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (I-635), where State Highway 121 continues north as the Sam Rayburn Tollway.

Bus routes serving the airport are operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Trinity Metro. DART operates route 230 from Downtown Irving/Heritage Crossing Station and Southwestern Medical District/Parkland Station to the Remote South Parking facility, and Trinity Metro operates the TRE Link bus route from CentrePort/DFW Airport station.

Three rail systems serve the airport: DART Light Rail, TEXRail, and the Trinity Railway Express. DART operates light rail from DFW Airport station located at Terminal A.[58] This provides direct rail service on the Orange Line to Dallas and Las Colinas (with a later extension to DFW Airport North station). TEXRail is a commuter rail service between Terminal B and T&P Station in downtown Fort Worth. DFW Airport is additionally served by the Trinity Railway Express commuter rail line at CentrePort/DFW Airport Station via shuttle bus to the Remote South parking lot. The line serves both downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth. There is also the DART Silver Line opening in 2024 which will serve terminal A.

A consolidated rental car facility is located at the south end of the airport and connected to all terminals by a dedicated network of shuttle buses.[59] Hosting ten rental car companies, the center was completed in March 2000.[60]

A cargo facility at 1639 West 23rd Street is located on the airport property and in the City of Grapevine.[61][62][63] Tenants include China Airlines,[64] Lufthansa Cargo,[65] and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[66]

The DFW Airport Department of Public Safety provides the airport with its own police, fire protection, and emergency medical services.[67]

The DFW International Airport headquarters is located nearby at 2400 Aviation Drive, DFW Airport, TX 75261.[68]

In 1995, the airport opened Founders' Plaza, an observation park dedicated to the founders of DFW Airport. The site offered a panoramic view of the south end of the airport and hosted several significant events, including an employee memorial the day after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the airport's 30th anniversary celebration in 2004.[69] As part of the perimeter taxiway project, Founders' Plaza was closed in 2007 and moved to a new location surrounding a 50-foot (15 m)-tall beacon on the north side of the airport in 2008. The 6-acre (2.4 ha) plaza features a granite monument and sculpture, post-mounted binoculars, piped-in voices of air traffic controllers and shade pavilions. In 2010, a memorial honoring Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was dedicated at the plaza.[70]