DFW: A growing global gateway - Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport - Brief Article

Latin Trade, June, 2000

With new routes to Latin America, connecting flights to Asia and Europe, and nonstop service to over 120 U.S. destinations, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is a fast-growing global gateway. In 1999, DFW served 60 million passengers to rank fifth in the world, and total cargo transported reached almost 922,000 tons.

For the past three years, the airport's passenger and cargo development team has been actively looking at new markets throughout the world that would sustain service from DFW airport. "In Latin America, we've added service to a number of cities, including Rio de Janeiro," says Joe Lopano, managing director of marketing. Currently, DFW serves eight destinations in Mexico, as well as Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Caracas, Venezuela; San Jose, Costa Rica, Guatemala City, Guatemala; and Belize City, Belize. There are over 29 flights a day to Mexico and more than seven flights daily to Latin America.

"Trade between Texas and Argentina is growing quickly," says Lopano. We're looking at serving Buenos Aires and exploring service to Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras. Another priority is expanding our regional jet penetration into Mexico." Karl Lehman, assistant director of passenger market development, notes that DFW is one of only two airports in the world with two airline hubs -- American, which has 771 flights a day, and Delta, which has 187 flights daily.

With seven runways and modern terminal facilities, DEW offers an uncongested setting for international passengers and cargo. "In 1999, approximately 80% of all flights arrived within 15 minutes, the best on-time arrival rate of any major U.S. hub," says Lehman.

Recently, DFW renovated its Terminal B to accommodate international passenger growth and the desire for more widebody aircraft at DFW. Ten new gates were added, the size of the waiting area was almost doubled, and immigration service capacity was expanded from 500 to 950 passengers per hour.

This spring, the airport will begin work on a new $1 billion international passenger terminal, and a $750 million elevated people-mover system that will carry passengers to their gates in nine minutes or less.

DFW Airport has just completed the second phase of its 400,000-squarefoot International Cargo Center, which includes a 30,000-square-foot refrigerated area for flowers and other perishables. "We are well-positioned to take perishable shipments from Latin America to the Midwest, Central states and West Coast," says Emir Pineda, manager of cargo market development.

DFW also benefits from the growing volume of technological goods being produced in Texas. For example, Nokia's largest cellular telephone plant in the world is just 10 miles from DFW. "The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex has one of the fastest-growing economies in the nation," says Lehman. "Dallas was recently ranked as the number one place in the U.S. to do business by Fortune magazine."

For both passenger and cargo service, DFW is a southern connecting point for service between Latin America, Asia and Europe. "Arriving flights from overseas can make good connections to deep South America," says Lopano. "Global trade is expanding quickly, and we are playing an important role in that growth."