Watching Dallas/Fort Worth live
Seven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
The layout
Dallas/Fort Worth International is enormous, larger than the island of Manhattan, and its seven runways show it: five parallel north–south runways, 17L/35R, 17C/35C and 17R/35L on the east side and 18L/36R and 18R/36L on the west, plus two diagonals, 13L/31R and 13R/31L. Between the two groups run the terminals, A through E, each a half-moon curve, with the Skylink train looping between them. The distances are so large that taxi times matter; an aircraft landing on the far west runway may taxi for ten minutes.
American Airlines built its largest hub here, and the field is essentially an American Airlines airport with guests.
How the flow works
South flow, landing on the 17s and 18s from the north, is the usual pattern, driven by the prevailing southerly winds of north Texas. When a norther blows through in winter the field flips to north flow. With five parallel runways, arrivals can land on three at once while departures use the others; watch the approach corridors from the north fill with aircraft lined up on the parallel finals.
American's banks give the day a strong pulse: a wave of arrivals every couple of hours, the aircraft swapping passengers, and a wave of departures behind it.
What to watch for
The fleet is American's: 737s and A321s in vast numbers, 787s and 777s to Europe, Asia and South America, and the regional jets of American Eagle. Southwest is absent (it flies from Love Field), which makes DFW unusually uniform. Spring and summer bring the big Texas thunderstorms, and when a line of storms crosses the field the whole map holds its breath: nothing lands, the ground stops, and then the backlog clears in a rush.
Founders' Plaza at the north end is the spotting park; from the miniature you get the same north-end view of arrivals descending onto the five parallels.
More airports
- LAXLos Angeles International AirportFour parallel runways beside the Pacific, and the busiest airport on the US west coast.
- ORDChicago O'Hare International AirportEight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
- ATLHartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportThe busiest airport on Earth: five parallel runways and an arrival every minute.
- DXBDubai International AirportA380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
- LHRLondon Heathrow AirportTwo runways running flat out, Terminal 5 at the west end.
- JFKJohn F. Kennedy International AirportCrossing runway pairs on Jamaica Bay, the AirTrain circling the terminals.
- SANSan Diego International AirportOne runway between the bay and downtown, and the steepest approach in the country.
- AMSAmsterdam Airport SchipholSix runways four metres below sea level, and a fifteen-minute taxi to the Polderbaan.
- DFWDallas/Fort Worth International AirportSeven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
- HNDTokyo Haneda AirportAsia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
- BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportThree parallel runways around one vast terminal on the marsh east of the city.
- GRUSão Paulo/Guarulhos International AirportSouth America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
- SYDSydney Kingsford Smith AirportAustralia's busiest airport: two parallel runways reaching out into Botany Bay, and a third across them.
- SINSingapore Changi AirportThree parallel runways on reclaimed land at the eastern tip of the island, and the best-run hub in the world.
- HKGHong Kong International AirportThree parallel runways on an island built for the purpose, between the sea and the mountains of Lantau.