When North Texans eye distant horizons, they come here first.
Despite the economy, despite the daunting pressures facing the airline industry, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport continues to dominate the southwestern skyscape, exerting an ever-widening gravitational pull when it comes to business travel.
That pull emanates from the power of Fort Worth-based American Airlines. Between them, AA and American Eagle own 86.4 percent of the domestic market at DFW. The closest competitor is Delta/Northwest, with a mere 3.9 percent. If you’re looking for low-fare competition, know that a mere 5.2 percent of the airport’s lift comes from LCCs.
That doesn’t mean that the 6.3 million souls who inhabit the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex are bereft of significant low-fare competition. It’s just that they have to head for Dallas Love Field to get a heavy dose of it. Love is home to Southwest Airlines. Now that the anti-competitive Wright Amendment is all but kaput (the last vestiges of the law are being phased out), carriers can offer nonstop, or one-stop service from Love to anywhere.
Once upon a time, DFW heavily courted Southwest, trying to get them to move to DFW. No go. Not then. Not now. And very probably not in the future (Love Field is closer to downtown Dallas than DFW, and there’s a plan afoot to radically rebuild DAL’s 1957-era terminal).
Connecting To The World
Playing to its strength, DFW rightfully bills itself as an international airport. International Terminal D, opened in 2005, is a state-of-the-art masterpiece of design and function. The airport’s other four terminals are about to undergo major makeovers — makeovers designed to render them better places to connect. Understand that DFW is the quintessential connecting hub: 57 percent of the people are just passing through — and an increasing number are bound for abroad.
DFW handled 5,417,118 international flyers in 2008 — about a tenth of the 57,093,187 passengers who populated the place. Those international travelers headed for destinations as diverse as Tokyo and London. In all, the airport is linked nonstop to 37 international airports.
One hidden gem: transborder connectivity. American and American Eagle offer great service to such out-of-the-way destinations as Aguascalientes, Leon, San Luis Potosi and such south of the border. The combo’s Mexican connections are eclipsed only by Continental and Continental Express, which hub out of Bush Houston Intercontinental.
More conventionally, DFW is well connected to the world’s major business centers. “What we really wanted for the entire 35-year existence of the airport,” says DFW Public Affairs Manager David Magaña, “was London Heathrow.” Now, North Texans have a trio of nonstops daily — two via AA, one courtesy BA. Heretofore, if you wanted to get to London from North Texas, you had to land at Gatwick.
More intriguing is DFW’s new KLM Amsterdam nonstop. KLM, along with Delta, belongs to the SkyTeam alliance. Traditionally, carriers are reluctant to launch transoceanic service into markets where they have no alliance partners. In early 2006, Delta dismantled its DFW hub, its daily flight count plummeting from 254 to 21. “It was [a] significant” drop, says Magaña. KLM introduced Amsterdam service after the DL pullout. (Route Graphs)
How’s the route faring? “Pretty well,” says the airport spokesman. “They’re renewed some marketing efforts here, and they’re looking at building a presence.” DFW is betting the abundance of connections that KLM offers beyond Amsterdam Schiphol to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia will render the route a fixture. But the jury’s still out.
Quantum Leaps At Ground Level
The verdict is in when it comes to ground accessibility. Despite great highway access, and the token presence of Trinity Railway Express to an area south of the airport (you’ve got to make a shuttle bus connection), the world’s third-busiest airport still doesn’t have direct light rail linkage to its two namesake cities. Consider: the Manhattan-size airport is 17 miles east of downtown Fort Worth, 15 miles west of downtown Dallas.
Proximity should be less a problem soon. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Fort Worth T trains are set to meet at an intermodal facility on the north side of DFW in 2013 or 2014. “It should connect to the [airport’s] Skylink system,” says Magaña. Skylink already laces together the airport’s five terminals. When that happens, it will be sort of like driving the “golden spike” in Promontory Point, Utah back in 1869, when the Union Pacific met the Central Pacific.
The elevated Skylink is a quantum improvement from the quaint, clunky peoplemover that previously meandered about DFW’s disparate terminals. So successful has the swift, quiet set-up been that Magaña contends it has helped propel DFW’s passenger ratings into the stratosphere. In tandem with International Terminal D’s debut, “passenger satisfaction numbers [have] shot through the roof.” For the past five years running, Airports Council International has ranked DFW among the Top Five aerodromes in the world when it comes to flyer fancy.
Food, beverage and shopping concessions are getting better too. Like a lot of airports, DFW has brought in local legends to spice up the menu. Try Dicky’s Barbecue near Terminal C’s Gate C6. Looking for perhaps the airport’s best brews? Tigin Irish Pub & Restaurant pours a proper pint near International Terminal D’s Gate D20.
Lessons In Avoiding Problems
The fact that airport Wi-Fi is pay-for-play belies the fact that there are scads of places you can simply plug in your laptop and access free wired Internet. Gratis power and wired Internet can be had at Gates A12, A20, A26, B10, B29, B35, C6, C20, C27, C35, D21, D23, D30, D40, E10, E14, and E36.
Plenty of airline clubs populate this expanse of Texas prairie. They belong to American, British Airways, Continental, Delta, Korean and Lufthansa. There’s also a stand-alone enclave called The Club at DFW near Gate D22. Entry fee is $35.
As for free Wi Fi, Magaña says, “once [current service provider] contracts end, we’ll take a look at free service again.”
An airport’s elemental connectivity lies in getting people to, through and out. Despite its expanse, DFW used to have a real problem getting flights that had just landed from one side of the airport to the other. The answer: a new perimeter taxiway system. With it, controllers can direct aircraft around the edge of the field, instead of having to herd them across active runways. A fourth of the system is already up and running, eliminating hundreds of runway crossings per day.
The perimeter taxiway doesn’t just make DFW more efficient, but significantly safer too. One of the perennial problems cited by the National Transportation Safety Board for airports in general is something called “runway incursions” — where departing or landing aircraft come far too close for comfort to taxiing flights.
This BTE reporter once frequented DFW monthly. Landing on the east side of the airport on a Friday afternoon and then waiting to get clearance to taxi across to the gate took 30 minutes (I timed it) on some occasions.
Getting through DFW’s semi-circular terminals and to the gate should be easier too, once renovation work’s complete on Terminals A, B, C and E. Designed during an era when security requirements were minimal to non-existent, and built for local passengers rather than connections, the 35-year old edifices are undergoing a $1.5- to $2-billion makeover.
Terminal A will be finished in 2014; all of them, by 2017. Aside from new innards (plumbing, environmental systems and such) “We’re going to reallocate space to make security [lanes] more efficient,” says Magaña.
Renovation will be rolling to minimize inconvenience, with a third of each terminal shut down at a time. When the dust settles, those Texanesque passenger satisfaction numbers Dallas/Fort Worth touts may have risen even higher.
SIDEBAR: Other Airports
Tokyo Haneda International (HND), Japan’s prime domestic and Asia-regional aerodrome, racked up the best on-time performance around among the planet’s busiest airports during 2009. FlightStats reports that 90.78 percent of Haneda’s flights were on time. Second-best on-time rankings go to Seoul’s Incheon International, where 87.43 percent of the flights were on time.
Istanbul Ataturk International (IST): Be ready to sit and stew a while if your destination is Istanbul. FlightStats says just 60.68 percent of IST’s flights were on time in 2009. Among the other bad actors: Newark Liberty International (EWR). FlightStats says it too ranks near the bottom in terms of on-time reliability. Just 65.37 percent of EWR’s flights were on time during 2009. Newark also had the highest percentage of flights delayed more than 44 minutes — 18.07 percent fell into that unenviable category.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO): When in Rome, do as the Romans: polish Plan B. FlightStats says the Roman aerodrome wins the cancellation prize for 2009, when 4.84 percent of FCO’s flights were axed. Maybe, domani.
Oakland International (OAK): Looking for some light at the end of the boarding bridge? Go west, yonder traveler. Go west — specifically to Oakland International. The San Francisco Bay’s “other airport” racked up an on-time performance rate of 86.90 percent in ‘09, says FlightStats.
Los Angeles International (LAX): Say so long to LAX’s venerable parking Lot B. The folks who run the airport say returning passengers were able to pick up their vehicles parked in long-term parking Lot B only through January 31. The lot’s located at 111th Street and La Cienega Boulevard. Where to park from now on? LAX recommends economy Lot C, located at 96th Street and Sepulveda Boulevard. The rate is $12 per day.
Raleigh/Durham International (RDU): Refreshing news in an era where airlines have been shutting down airport clubs. Delta just opened a new 4,000-square-foot Sky Club (they used to be known as Crown Rooms) at Raleigh/Durham International. You’ll find it in Terminal 2. The new digs replaces a club shut down since November 2008. Sky Club members at RDU get gratis Wi-Fi, beverages, snacks, a full-service bar and satellite TV.
Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP): A couple of new places to eat at Minnie. If you’ve got time for a sit-down meal, check out Ike’s on Summit, named for the historic avenue in St. Paul. There are a-half dozen varieties of locally-brewed Summit beer on tap, and the Bloody Marys aren’t at all bad. You’ll find it on Concourse F in the Lindbergh Terminal. Grab ‘n go ‘gotta suffice? Arby’s just set up shop in the Airport Mall’s main food court.
Boston Logan International (BOS): If you’re wracked by guilt pains every time you touch down on a runway paved with dead dinosaur remnants, Boston offers bereavement relief. Logan says it’s employed a “first-in-the-nation ... environmentally-friendly” asphalt mix to repave Runway 9/27 (the numbers refer to compass headings). What’s environmentally-friendly asphalt? The sticky stuff is heated to between 250 and 275 degrees — some 75 to 50 degrees cooler than traditional “hot-mix” asphalt. Logan contends the concoction will result in 4,000 fewer tons of carbon dioxide, and save some 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
Düsseldorf International Airport (DUS): The ?200 million investment made three years ago to turn DUS into one of Germany’s top three hubs is paying off, says airport management. In spite of the worldwide economic crisis and a general decline in air travel, the number of passengers passing through in 2009 declined only 2 percent compared to 2008. In the final five months of the year, traffic reached record highs. The most robust growth was recorded on routes to Chicago, Miami, New York, Dubai, Helsinki, Istanbul and Vienna.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is planning a modernized web site to “address the needs of today’s tech savvy traveler,” says Reed Barnes, the airport’s webmaster. That means more than directions to the airport parking lots, he says: “Travelers want to check flight schedules, airfares and even plan trips.” The new site is also more efficient: Barnes will be able to update the site himself without going to the expense and delay of using a third party.
— JGC