American Airlines had big plans for its hub in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Today the airline and the airport announced a deal that will see a new Terminal F constructed with up to 24 gates available for the carrier. The work is expected to start immediately with entry into service by 2025. The project is expected to cost between 3-3.5 billion dollars.
Today’s announcement sets the stage for DFW Airport’s next 50 years. The new Terminal F and the expansion that could follow will provide the region with the growth it needs to compete with international business centers. The Airport is growing faster than ever, and it needs to keep pace with the Dallas-Fort Worth economy to provide jobs and connections for businesses and families.
– Sean Donohue, CEO of DFW Airport
The new terminal fits in nicely with the airport’s master design plan. The space is already allocated and the tram connecting the terminals already routes around where the new terminal will sit. American Airlines and the Airport Authority will cooperate on the specific design work to set the layout for gates and other aspects of the new Terminal F.
Financing for the work is expected to be handled though bonds and repaid through airline landing fees and rent over the life of those bonds. The airline’s lease at DFW is currently in renewal negotiations, including the details of paying off these bonds.
DFW is American’s largest hub and a central gateway to our extensive international and domestic network. The plans we’re announcing today will allow for the continued growth of DFW and ensure the airport remains a premier gateway for American for many more years to come.
— Doug Parker, American Airlines Chairman and CEO
The airline and airport suggest that the new terminal will “accommodate a changing aviation industry as DFW utilizes innovative technologies to facilitate the movement of customers.” Given the recent push towards more biometric-based operations, both domestically and internationally, it is a reasonably safe bet that some of these same technologies will make it into the new Terminal F design as well.
American has not been shy about its efforts to continue growth at DFW. The carrier flies more than 80% of the passengers at the airport, a share similar to that of Delta Air Lines at Atlanta. American flies some 900 daily departures covering 234 destinations from DFW this summer. That is 100 daily flights more than in 2018 and the growth is expected to continue apace. The airline opened 15 refreshed gates in the Terminal E satellite earlier this month. The airline expects to add 100 daily flights with these new gates.
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Are all these gates going to be used for AA exclusively?
While it’s convenient that the SkyLink is airside there needs to be an additional tram to the rental car facility. And it’s fortunate that the airport designers pushed the skylink train out around what will become the new terminal
With Delta upping the terminal at SLC and AA at DFW these could see big increases in hub traffic for many years to come but wow the price tag for these projects seem really high to me. 24 gates=3.5bn cost overruns is about 145 million per gate. I did know 3,000 sqft a CNN flat screen TV and 50 airport chairs cost that much 🙂