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.

[edit] Overview

With 685,491 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 ninth busiest international gateway in the United States, behind Houston Intercontinental Airport.^[5] It is tied with Chicago O'Hare International Airport with the most runways, with seven. In 2006 the airport was named 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 38 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 moved its Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Los Angeles International Airport in February 2005 in an effort to cut costs and avoid direct competition with American before eliminating it all together due to the Oil price increases since 2003. The airline shrank operations from 256 daily nonstop flights to 22.

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.

[edit] History

As early as 1927, before the area had an airport, Dallas proposed a joint airport with Fort Worth. Fort Worth declined the offer, choosing instead to build a municipal airport, Meacham Field, on the city's north side. In 1928, Dallas purchased Dallas Love Field from the United States Army for $325,000. In 1934, Braniff Airways won a service contract for a Dallas-Chicago route which started the busy air mail distribution at Love Field. In 1937, Fort Worth expanded Meacham Field.

In 1940, Dallas and Fort Worth sought money for their separate airports. In 1941, American Airlines and Braniff Airways were unhappy at the expense and struck a deal with the city of Arlington to develop Midway Airport, but the governments of Dallas and Fort Worth disagreed over its construction, and the project was abandoned in 1942. During the next 20 years, Love Field expanded while Meacham Field outgrew its airport and sought other airport opportunities. In 1947, the Texas Legislature passed the Texas Municipal Airports Act.

In 1953, Fort Worth opened Greater Southwest International Airport, to the east of downtown, on the former Midway airport lands. While centrally located and larger, it was never able to equally compete with more popular Love Field.

Following an order from the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1964 that they would unilaterally choose a site if both cities could not come to an agreement on a site within 180 days, in 1965 officials from the two cities finally agreed on a location for a new regional airport. It was on the county line, adjacent to the northeast of the Midway and Greater Southwest locations, almost perfectly equidistant from the two city centers; the first 176 acres was purchased jointly by both cities in 1966. In 1967, Dallas County voters rejected a Regional Airport Authority for the airport. In 1968, the DFW Regional Airport Board was formally created. J. Erik Jonsson served as chairman; Tom Sullivan became first Executive Director. He was also former New York Port Authority Deputy Director. The initial construction began in 1969, making obsolete the neighboring facilities and terminal of GSW, an earlier attempt at solving the regional airport problem.

In 1971, construction began on Terminal 2W (later Terminal B) and runway construction began in 1972. The first landing occurred the following year when Claude Brinegar arrived to inspect the airport. Also in 1973, the control tower and runways were completed, and the dedication of DFW Regional Airport was visited by 200,000 people. The first landing of a supersonic BAC/Sud (now BAE Systems and Aerospatiale) Concorde in the United States occurred, as well as performances by country singer Willie Nelson and entertainer Doc Severinsen. The airport owned 17,500 acres, making it the largest and costliest airport in the world at $700 million. 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 when American Airlines Flight 341 arrived on time from Memphis via Little Rock, at 12:07 am. Fort Worth residents J.W. and Patricia Parker were the first to deplane.^[9] Just three months from opening, the airport handled 18,000 passengers a day. In 1978, American Airlines (which began as National Air Transport in Fort Worth 50 years earlier) announced the move of its headquarters from New York City to Fort Worth. In 1982, Braniff Airlines filed for bankruptcy.

During 1974-1983, DFW handled about 200 million passengers and more than 2.6 million tons of cargo and mail; the number of airlines serving the airport expanded to more than 40, increasing from just 12 airlines on opening day. In 1985, the name changed to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In 1987 the federal task force recommended that DFW add 2 more runways, the addition of which were announced in 1989, along with the rebuilding of Terminals A, B, C, and E. DFW became the world's second busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic with 48,000,000 passengers. In May 1989, the space shuttle Atlantis, along with its 747, landed at DFW Airport because it had to divert due there to bad weather in Florida.

After an environmental impact study on the construction of the new runways and terminal rebuilding 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 1993. Also in 1993 DFW had groundbreaking for Runway 16/34 East. In 1994, the FAA opened 2 new control towers at DFW, making it the only airport in the world with three control towers.

In 1996, construction was completed on Runway 17L/35R (formally designated 16/34 East), and on October 1, 1996, it opened for operations. American Airlines Flight 486 (a Boeing 757) was the first commercial aircraft to use the runway. On November 1, 1996, DFW started service to Lima, Peru; Los Cabos, Mexico; and Santiago, Chile. In 1997 DFW became the fastest growing gateway to Latin America, adding 8 new routes to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Foreign flag carriers increased from four to nine, providing DFW passengers a wide range of choices of travel. In 1998, DFW airport ranked #1 with on-time arrivals. Also in 1998 Terminal B was expanded to accommodate international travelers, and service to Asia increased with a new route to Osaka.

In 1999 the airport opened a 205,000 sq. ft. Class A International Cargo Center in January, adding to its existing 2.1 million sq. ft. of cargo facilities. A new international terminal (Terminal D) opened in July 2005.

[edit] 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 after encountering severe wind shear, killing 8 of 11 crew members, and 128 of the 152 passengers on board, as well as 1 person on the ground.
• On October 30, 1985, American Airlines Flight 203 (Boeing 727) landed safely from Austin Bergstrom International Airport, but an explosion occurred in the baggage compartment when the baggage was being unloaded. There was minor damage and the airplane was repaired.
• On February 5, 1986, Delta Air Lines Flight 139, a Lockheed L-1011 going from Fort Lauderdale-Dallas/Fort Worth-Los Angeles, was hijacked after landing from Fort Lauderdale.
• On May 21, 1988, American Airlines Flight 70 bound from DFW-Frankfurt rejected the take-off when a warning light sounded at 166 knots, but the DC-10 accelerated to 178 knots, then it went down to 130 knots, but it ran off the runway when it hit 95 knots. The nose gear was destroyed and the aircraft went to a stop at 1,100 feet beyond the end of the runway.
• On August 31, 1988, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, a Boeing 727 bound to Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah, crashed after takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, killing 2 of 7 crew members, and 12 of 101 passengers on board.
• On September 21, 1988, an American Airlines Boeing 727 was going from Oklahoma City-Dallas/Fort Worth. The 727 was on approach to Dallas/Fort Worth when the main landing gear failed to extend. The 727 landed on runway 18L with the nose gear extended and the main gear retracted.
• On January 17, 1992, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-232 took off from DFW to Houston Intercontinental Airport but had to divert back to DFW due to engine seperation.
• On April 14, 1993, American Airlines Flight 102 departed Honolulu on a flight to Dallas/Fort Worth. The aircraft was landing at runway 17L but the DC-10 landed and drifted off the runway and the nose gear and the left main gear collapsed.
• On May 23, 2001 American Airlines Flight 1107 was destined to Dallas/Fort Worth from Charlotte. While on approach there was a loud noise and then the right wing went down, and then the plane started to move towards the right. The pilots were able to keep control of the plane and put it to a stop on runway 17C.

[edit] Disasters involving flights with a DFW connection

• On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, which was flying on a Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto-Montreal route, made an emergency landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Kentucky; 23 of the 46 people on board were killed by either smoke inhalation or flash fire.
• On April 16, 1985, an American Airlines Boeing 727-227 was flying frome DFW-San Diego. When it was traveling in smooth air a loud noise was heard. Frozen fluid and water from the lavatory was ingested by the no. 3 engine. Fanblades failed and the engine broke away.
• On February 3, 1988, American Airlines Flight 132 was loaded with the passenge luggage including one with a 104 pound fiber drum of textile treatment materials. Inside that contained five gallons of hydrogen peroxide and 25 pounds of sodium orthosilicate. When it was on approach to Nashville the main cabin started to fill with smoke. At 4:15 P.M. the plane was evacuated on a taxiway at Nashville.

On February 1, 1994, an American Eagle Saab 340B was on approach to Baton Rouge from DFW. The captain moved the power levers from first idle to beta range. After that the propellers and engines went into extreme overspeed. The fligth was forced to land at New Roads-False River Regional Airport.

• 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 captain and 10 of the 139 passengers.
• On December 21, 1999, a Valley Projects Cessna 551 aircraft collided with trees and then the ground when it missedits approach to runway 10 at Crisp County-Cordele Airport.
• On March 21, 2000, American Eagle Airlines Flight 3789, a Saab 340B-353, overran the runway and struck a ditch beyond the end of the runway at Killeen Municipal Airport.

[edit] 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. ^[10]

[edit] 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). The original people mover train (Airtrans APM) which opened with the airport was notoriously slow (17mph) and uni-directional. It was replaced by SkyLink in April 2005 after serving approximately 250 million passengers.^[11] Skylink serves all five terminals at a considerably higher speed and is bi-directional.

[edit] Terminal A

American Airlines and its regional affiliate American Eagle have a large presence at Dallas/Fort Worth. The world's 2nd 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 there 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 31 gates: A9-A26, A28-A29, A33-A39

[edit] 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 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 38 gates: B3, B4A, B4B, B5-B8, B9A, B9B, B10-B11, B12A, B12B, B13-B31, B33-B35, B36A, B36B, B37-B38, B39A, B39B

[edit] 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

[edit] 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 29 gates and an integrated 298-room Grand Hyatt DFW [1] 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

[edit] 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 other terminals only by Skylink and is lacking the walkways that link other terminals.

Terminal E has 28 gates: E2-E21, E31-E38. Terminal E had customs facilities that were used when Delta operated flights to Frankfurt in the early 1990s, and when Air France and AeroMexico used to serve D/FW before the International Terminal D was constructed. In the 2000s, SkyTeam partner airlines Continental and Northwest moved to gates adjacent to Delta. Currently, airlines serving Terminal E include:

[edit] 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 27th busiest cargo airport in the world.^{[citation needed]}

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. [2]

[edit] Trade data

• Asia 48%
• Europe 34%
• Latin America 9%
• Middle East 3%
• Indian subcontinent 2%
• Oceania 2%
• Africa 1%
• Rest of World 1%

[edit] Cargo carriers

• ABX Air (Wilmington)
• Air China Cargo
• Air France Cargo
• Air Transport International
• Airborne Express
• Ameriflight (Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Wichita Falls)
• BAX Global (Laredo, Toledo)
• Carribean Transportation Services
• Cathay Pacific Cargo (Anchorage, Atlanta, Houston Hobby)
• China Airlines Cargo (Anchorage, Seattle/Tacoma)
• China Cargo Airlines (Anchorage, Chicago O'Hare)
• EVA Air Cargo (Anchorage, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
• FedEx Express (Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Memphis, Newark, San Antonio)
• Korean Air Cargo (Miami, Seoul-Incheon)
• Lufthansa Cargo (Frankfurt)
• Martinaire (Abilene, Midland/Odessa, Palestine, Tyler)
• Singapore Airlines Cargo (Anchorage, Brussels, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Osaka Kansai, Singapore)
• Southern Air (Liege, Louisville)
• United Parcel Service (Atlanta, Long Beach, Louisville, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Ontario, Phoenix, Rockford, San Antonio)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Texas portal

• Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, official website
• QTVR tour of DFW control tower
• DFW Tower.com
• FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 20 November 2008
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KDFW
  • ASN accident history for DFW
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KDFW
  • FAA current DFW delay information

Coordinates: 32°53′45″N 97°2′25″W / 32.89583, -97.04028