Grapevine, Texas
There’s an occasional line at the Chick-fil-A counter, and an occasional line of airplanes waiting to take off, too. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport looks…sort of busy.
And that’s enough to make DFW the busiest airport in the world.
The sprawling Texas hub, with seven runways and five terminals, has more than 90% of its gates and half its restaurants in operation. DFW typically ranks behind Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles in takeoffs and landings. But due to the instant transformation of the airline business, DFW finds itself at least temporarily on top, with long-lasting implications for travelers.
For the past two decades, airlines have moved to more nonstop flights, bypassing big hubs in the middle of the country. Now the midcontinent hub is back. For years to come, many travelers will find they must connect rather than go nonstop.
American Airlines, which makes its home at DFW, has been pushing connecting service more than its competitors, focusing mainly on DFW and Charlotte, N.C. American even announced it was dropping five routes to Asia from Los Angeles, making DFW its main trans-Pacific gateway.
From a low of about 200 flights a day at DFW, American will hit 667 flights a day later this month. Last summer it flew more than 900 a day, and with larger airplanes.
American has focused its flying on DFW, shown here, and Charlotte, N.C. The airline even says that DFW will become its new Pacific hub as it pulls multiple flights to Asian destinations out of Los Angeles.
In May, DFW had 12,109 departing passenger flights, edging out Chengdu, China, by 86 flights for the title of busiest in the world, according to Cirium, a London-based travel data and analytics firm. In June, DFW widened its lead over Chengdu, Cirium says.
World’s busiest is a dubious title in the middle of a pandemic—even DFW has lost half of its business. It’s still seen more passenger flights than anyone else.
“It does feel weird to be busy,” says Sean Donohue, DFW’s chief executive.
Chengdu has seen larger passenger airplanes, so it has more departing seats, Cirium says. And counting cargo flights, it has more total takeoffs. Among U.S. airports, scheduled flights at DFW in June topped Atlanta, Denver, Charlotte and Chicago O’Hare, in that order, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide, another data firm.
DFW Airport CEO Sean Donohue says this month nearly 100% of the gates at the sprawling airport will be used at peak hours, and social distancing in domestic terminals will be impossible. Few airports in the world are seeing that kind of passenger flow.
At DFW, American’s airport clubs have reopened, and while the passenger flow rises and falls with each bank of connecting flights, terminals can look downright normal at times. About 90% of gates are used for the late-afternoon rush, and because American expanded its schedule again on Tuesday, Mr. Donohue says, utilization will approach 100% at peak hours.
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The traffic surge means that at peak periods, travelers won’t be able to socially distance in domestic terminals, he says. Sending extra travelers around the country and beyond may prove to be a big concern, especially if coronavirus continues to surge in Texas.
The airport has what it calls a strike team of 150 workers on patrol to continuously clean high-touch areas. It’s added some 300 hand-sanitizer dispensers on advertising displays and all kinds of other locations. By the end of July, restrooms will be all touchless—hands-free paper, soap, toilets, water fountains, etc. Sensors in paper-towel dispensers alert workers to low supplies.
Masks are now required at the airport. Employees can get tested at no cost when they want.
DFW expects its passenger count to be down about 45% in July compared with last year. That’s significantly better than many airports where traffic is still down 70% or more.
It takes strong demand to fill planes on nonstop routes without connecting passengers. That doesn’t exist today, and may not for several years. So airlines are back to the future emphasizing hubs, where the number of possible connections often drives just how full flights are.
The airport says it expects July passenger traffic to be down only about 45%. That’s far better than the 95% plunge it saw in early April, and stronger than many other U.S. airports.
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Mr. Donohue decided early in the pandemic that the airport wasn’t going to furlough any of its 2,000 employees, so when traffic started returning quickly, there were plenty of workers available. That decision was supported when the federal airline bailout, the Cares Act, made airports eligible. DFW received $300 million.
DFW waived rent payments to concessionaires if they closed. If they stayed open, rent was significantly reduced. Concessions also pay a portion of their revenue to the airport, but those minimum annual guarantees were eliminated until next March. These policies caused the airport to eat $70 million in potential revenue, Mr. Donohue says.
Concessions that are open at DFW say business has doubled in recent weeks as a summertime surge of travelers has returned to the airport. That boost could be in danger, however, as the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations surge in Texas and other states.
About $100 million in landing fees and terminal rents have been deferred for airlines—they will pay it back later.
Ray Mickens, owner of M2 Concepts, an operator of several food outlets at DFW, says business has doubled since the end of March and early April. “People are eager to get out,” he says.
Mr. Mickens, a cornerback in the National Football League for 11 years, hired people back, then had to shut down bars when Texas backtracked and ordered bars reclosed. Now he’s unsure whether to keep them coming to work or not.
“Right now our challenge is dealing with regulations,” he says.
The airport went into the pandemic in strong financial shape, with 600 operating days of cash on hand. Mr. Donohue says DFW can reduce its operating costs further by taking advantage of lower interest rates and refinancing debt. Mr. Donohue says the North Texas community, which owns and operates the airport, is basically investing to keep its economic engine running so it can help the local economy recover.
“Airports have always been a huge economic driver, but now they are more important than ever,” he says.
The airport stopped work on a huge new terminal—it may be many years now before that’s needed. But it’s actually accelerated some construction projects, including a four-gate expansion to the airport’s main international terminal and a rebuilding of some gates at one of American’s terminals. Reconstruction of one of the runways was moved up, starting in June instead of December.
“I am pleasantly surprised by all this, but also realistic,” Mr. Donohue says. “After Labor Day, we are going to have to be very efficient at how we run the airport, because we are not going to see traffic like this post-Labor Day.”
Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com
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