Wing and a Dare: DFW Turns 40
January 17, 2014 8:29 PM
Forty years after the first commercial flight landed from Little Rock, Ark., Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is considered an aerotropolis, a self-contained city built around aviation. With seven runways and five terminals on a site the size of Manhattan, the airport is one of nine in the world with more than 200 destinations and is adding flights to China and the Persian Gulf in 2014. (Image: NASA) See the full story: DFW Airport Took Off With Some Pretty Tricky Finance
Before any ground was broken, Dallas and Fort Worth staked out the site of the new regional airport exactly halfway between the two cities downtowns. With very few people living in what are now heavily populated suburbs, acquiring property was far less difficult than it would be today. The airport would create large buffers of vacant land to reduce complaints about airplane noise. Now, however, residential developers are trying to get as close to the airport as possible, which DFW continues to discourage. (Image: Southlake Historical Society)
Ray Hutchison was a young bond attorney in 1965 when he was hired by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth to find a formula for creating a joint operating board for the proposed Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. After Dallas voted down the proposal, Hutchison worked with the Dallas City Council and Mayor Erik Jonsson to create a temporary board, with the understanding that another election would be held the next year. However, the election was never held. The board was temporary, and it still is, Hutchison said. (Image: Bracewell & Giuliani).
One of the major carriers that DFW needed to sign was Braniff International Airways. But Braniff, American and Delta Airlines balked at the move when they learned that upstart carrier Southwest would be staying at Love Field. The airlines doubted that the new DFW would have any revenue to finance its debt without them. However, First Southwest Co. founder Decker Jackson, Jr. called their bluff, placing $35 million of unrated revenue bonds with several banks, according to bond attorney Ray Hutchison. That scared the airlines, he said. Eight years after moving to DFW and four years after airline deregulation, Braniff would liquidate under bankruptcy. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Three years after land was purchased in 1966, construction of the new airport began. The original airport cost $700 million. Many Dallas residents accustomed to driving to nearby Love Field, would later complain about the distance to the new airport, 12 miles to the west. DFW was originally designed to have 14 semi-circular terminals, but only four were built. A fifth international terminal, Terminal D, was later added. DFW is now remodeling the four original terminals under a $2.3 billion bond program. (Image: Southlake Historical Society).
Texas Gov. John Connally is pictured on the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in dedication ceremonies for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Sept. 22, 1973. The event included the first landing of the Concorde supersonic airliners in the U.S. The airport would not officially open until Jan. 13, 1974 with the arrival of the first commercial flight from Little Rock, Ark. (Image: Southlake Historical Society).
American Airlines made DFW its fortress hub after moving its headquarters back to Fort Worth in 1979 and developing its hub-and-spoke system in 1981. American became a major innovator in the airline industry, creating the Sabre reservations system, frequent-flier miles and other innovations. After every other major carrier had declared bankruptcy at least once, Americans parent AMR Corp. finally filed Chapter 11 on Nov. 29, 2011. On Dec. 9 American emerged from bankruptcy as the merger partner with US Airways. (Image: DFW International)
Lacking an efficient means of moving passengers to multiple terminals, DFW developed the Skylink System, which became the largest people mover system of its type. Under a $2.7 billion capital improvement program, DFW opened Skylink and its new International Terminal D in 2005. (Image: DFW International)
Construction crews work on Dallas Area Rapid Transits new airport terminal, expected to be completed by the end of the year. The station at DFWs Terminal A will provide the first light rail link to downtown Dallas. DFWs regional governance model provided a template for later multi-jurisdictional authorities such as DART and the North Texas Tollway Authority.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airports volunteer Ambassadors distribute roses for the 40th anniversary of the first commercial flight to DFW on Jan. 13, 1974. The original flight was from Little Rock, Ark. The same flight was greeted on Jan. 13, 2014 with a spray of water cannons.
