[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




CELEBRATING THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF DALLAS/FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL 
                                AIRPORT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KENNY MARCHANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 13, 2014

  Mr. MARCHANT. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to celebrate the 
fortieth anniversary of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), 
which operated its first commercial flight on January 13, 1974. More 
than a massive facility, DFW is an economic and development engine that 
has transformed the course of North Texas in the past four decades.
  Ground was broken for DFW on December 11, 1968, with Dallas Mayor J. 
Erik Johnson and Fort Worth Chamber President J. Lee Johnson III 
leading their respective cities in the joint venture. Four years prior, 
the Civil Aeronautics Board sought for the cities of Dallas and Fort 
Worth to choose a site for a new airport to service them both. 
Ultimately, a space that lay seventeen miles from either city's core 
was chosen in an area covering parts of the cities of Coppell, Euless, 
Grapevine, and Irving.
  DFW has a unique history in aviation. At a 1973 dedication ceremony 
one year before its general opening, it was the first airport in the 
U.S. to welcome the landing of a supersonic Concorde. Supersonic 
service between DFW and Europe was then inaugurated in 1979 with the 
parallel landings of two Concorde jets. American Airlines, today the 
largest airline in the world, made DFW its first hub in 1981 and 
invented the modern ``hub and spoke'' route system there in 1982. In 
1989, Atlantis, piggybacking on a modified Boeing 747, made DFW the 
first commercial airport to host a shuttle landing.
  The 1990s saw significant expansion, including the addition of a 
seventh runway in 1996 and the first of four runway extensions starting 
that same year. To this day, DFW is the only airport in the world with 
four paved serviceable runways longer than 4,000 meters. In 2005, the 
Skylink rail and the international Terminal D were added. DFW now hosts 
fifty-nine international destinations, twenty-five of which were added 
in the last three years; and its 11.1% growth rate in international 
traffic in 2012 (and even more in 2013) was double that of its U.S. 
peers.
  DFW serves 200 destinations and is the fourth busiest airport in the 
world in terms of aircraft movement. It ranks eighth in passenger 
traffic at 60 million per year, or 164,000 per day. It is also the 
second-largest in the U.S. in terms of physical space, with 
approximately 18,000 acres (larger than the island of Manhattan). It 
moves 645,000 tons of cargo per year. Its parking spaces alone are 
staggering at 40,000. Ultimately, according to the University of North 
Texas, DFW airport is responsible for adding $31.6 billion to the 
economy annually and for 148,000 jobs. Even that is only part of the 
story.
  The population of the Dallas/Fort Worth area has grown from 2.5 
million to 6.7 million in the 40 years since DFW airport opened. This 
telling growth has come with a boom in the size and quality of life in 
the two namesake cities and also for numerous nearby suburban cities, 
many of which are in the 24th District of Texas. Several major 
corporations--including American Airlines, Fluor, Kimberly Clark, and 
Exxon Mobil, to name a few--located their headquarters in the area for 
the strategic and logistic boon that DFW offers from its prime position 
between the coasts. Manufacturing plants, entertainment venues, 
conferences, and businesses of all types have sprung up over the years 
as a result of the airport.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the 24th Congressional District of Texas, I 
ask all my distinguished colleagues to join me in celebrating the 
fortieth anniversary of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, as 
well as the vibrancy that it has brought to the 24th District in which 
it sits, and in thanking the countless people of all trades, services, 
and professions who have made this economic engine possible.

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