Try to imagine the metroplex without the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Your memory will need to stretch back more than 50 years.
To spotlight the airport’s 50th anniversary, the Fort Worth Report is launching an ongoing series that will look at its past, present and future impact on Tarrant County and the region. Aviation history experts and economists say the airport’s impact on the region can’t be overstated.
On Jan. 13, DFW Airport customer support teams unveiled 50th anniversary-themed uniforms. Passengers flying from Little Rock, Arkansas, to the airport were welcomed with a water arch celebrating the first flight to arrive at the airport from the city in 1974.
The process of creating the DFW Airport wasn’t easy — it took about 30 years of negotiations between the city of Fort Worth and Dallas to make it a reality, said Bruce Bleakley, an aviation consultant and author of a book about the DFW Airport.
“In fact, (the negotiations) were sometimes quite contentious,” Bleakley said.
Dallas Love Field Airport and what was known as Greater Southwest International Airport in Fort Worth were in competition for federal funds after the Federal Aviation Administration indicated it did not want to fund two separate commercial airports 12 miles apart, he said.
The government ended up not designating either airport as the regional airport for the area, and gave the cities 180 days to figure something out. A six-person interim board was formed — three people from Dallas and three from Fort Worth — and they hammered out an agreement for what’s now known as the DFW International Airport. It was signed April 15, 1968, and operations began Jan. 13, 1974.
Historically, the aviation industry has had a huge impact on Fort Worth and the region, said Jim Hodgson, executive director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum. Airports ultimately increase commerce and act as a force multiplier. The DFW airport is a midpoint in the country for air travel.
“The other thing that made a big difference is that the site for the airport was chosen so that it could grow,” Hodgson said. “And so, it’s had the opportunity to grow as aviation has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Many companies have chosen to relocate business to the region because of the airport, Bleakley said. One of his favorite examples is the 2010 decision by airline Virgin America, which was later bought by Alaska Airlines, to move to the area. He said their company model first focused on attracting business travel flying out of large corporate centers on the East and West coasts. DFW was the first inland airport where Virgin America started operations.
“The reason that they did that was that in 2010, the Dallas-Fort Worth area was the fourth-largest corporate market in the United States,” Bleakley said. “And it was … because of DFW Airport.”
Today, the airport supports an annual payroll of $38 billion, affecting 634,000 jobs, according to the numbers provided at the state of the DFW Airport address in October 2023. The airport also adds $5 billion to state and local tax revenues every year.
Ray Perryman, president of the economic research company Perryman Group, also notes the airport is a hub for cargo imports and exports. Between operation of the airport, visitor spending and cargo activity, Perryman estimates gains in business activity to be $62.4 billion in annual gross product.
“DFW Airport and its operations are essential to the vitality of the region as well as the state, connecting people and businesses to the world,” Perryman wrote in an email to the Fort Worth Report. “As the economy evolves and becomes more globally integrated in the future, DFW Airport will continue to be a defining feature of the potential of the area, the state, and, indeed, the entire world.”
Despite all the analysis Perryman has completed, he said, the best way to understand the true significance of the DFW Airport is to imagine the region without it. It would be a very different place.
Seth Bodine is a business and economic development reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at seth.bodine@fortworthreport.org and follow on X, formerly known as Twitter, @sbodine120.
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