Behind the success: DFW’s secrets to excellence and future innovations

The airport celebrated its 50th anniversary on January 13 this year with a flash mob in the terminals. Credit: DFW

You were named as the best large airport in North America for 2023 for the second year in a row. Congratulations. What do you think contributed to this win? 

We’re very excited about the award and the recognition. We have 82 million customers per year coming through our terminals, so to be able to receive that recognition with that many customers is an incredible accomplishment. I think what really got us there is our people. Not just the people that work for Dallas Fort Worth Airport directly, but also our concessionaire partners, Federal partners such as TSA agents, and custodians. 

One key to this success is that everyone receives training in front of house; your role is not just to clean the floors, for example, but also to help customers. It’s the activation of all the employees across the airport. We have 60,000 workers that show up to work every day, and having them assist customers really does make a difference. We call it ‘OneDFW’ – the employee movement of all the people that make a difference for our customers. 

DFW has 60,000 workers and everyone receives front of house training. Credit: DFW

How do you deliver value for money for passengers amid rising material, labour, and cost of living costs? 

We’re not seeing any decline in travel even though ticket prices have risen. Costs have risen in other sectors more, such as groceries. One thing that we have noticed is a drop in passenger spending within concessions, so people are paying a little less for their food than they used to. We’re working with our concessionaire partners on menu adjustments and trying to be creative in leveraging things that interest customers. For example, Dirk Nowitzki, the famous Dallas Mavericks basketball star, has opened a restaurant bar in Terminal C and makes occasional appearances. 

The Texas Rangers – the baseball team in our area – just won the World Series and are very well known, so we’ve got all their merchandise across many of our shops.  So we look to leverage things that are going on in the community. 

We’re also about to re-bid roughly 100 concessions locations over the next 18 months, which will allow us to bring in concepts more responsive to current trends and tastes of our passengers. 

DFW is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. What are you doing to get your customers involved in this year-long birthday party? 

The airport celebrated its 50th anniversary on January 13 this year. On the day itself, we had a huge flash mob in the terminals, and both cities of Dallas and Fort Worth lit up their skylines in orange – our brand colour. We created a big 50th anniversary logo, and all the employees in the terminals are wearing that logo on shirts and name tags. We’re celebrating with employees, customers, and our cities throughout the entire year with various activities. 

You’ll also be hosting nine games of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. How do you plan on preparing to ensure the airport can cope with the hundreds of thousands of extra passengers? 

The airport already sees 250,000 passengers a day. FIFA has informed us to expect an additional 80,000 per day during the World Cup, so we’re comfortable with the volume. We’ll have nine new gates open prior to the games. FIFA emphasises the importance of quickly getting passengers off the airplane, through customs and to the curb, so we’ll focus on streamlining that process and will have a team dedicated to this. We’ll also create fan areas in the baggage claim areas. Our multi-lingual staff is particularly excited about this global event. 

What technology is making the biggest impact on your airport experience, and why? 

Customers will see technology like real-time security checkpoint wait times, which helps them decide which checkpoint to use. We also have biometric exits for all international flights. However, behind the scenes, sensor technology is extremely helpful to us. Sensors tell us what’s happening throughout all five terminals, including where crowds are forming, and which queues are long. This information is available to our staff on iPads, helping them manage resources effectively. We even have sensors in restrooms and on conveyances like escalators and elevators to ensure smooth operations. 

What is on your customer experience agenda for this year? What are you most looking forward to? 

We are excited about the development and architecture of our new Terminal F and the rebuilding and reimagining of Terminal C. Our customer experience team is involved in design decisions, bringing in customer data and market research. We’re even looking at neuroscience to understand how different environments affect feelings. For example, higher ceilings in terminals feel better than lower ones, and we make recommendations to ensure human-centred design. It’s exciting to influence something that will be used by our community for the next 50 years.  

Credit: DFW.