DALLAS — DFW International Airport opened four new gates this month after building most of the new structure a mile away and moving it into place with massive tractors.
The new section in Terminal C was delivered in September after the exterior shell was built about a mile away. It features 16-foot ceilings with curved wood, tall glass windows that can be dimmed to shade the hot Texas sun and artificial trees with twinkling lights at the ends of the branches.
“Customers will experience a much more relaxing atmosphere at the High C gates,” said Khaled Naja, DFW Airport’s executive vice president of infrastructure and development. “The new gates will also feature unique art throughout, and it sets the stage for what customers can expect for future construction at DFW.”
The new gates will come just in time for a busy summer travel season scheduled at DFW Airport, giving carriers and, in particular, American Airlines more space to park and load planes with passengers. DFW Airport is expecting nearly 25 million passengers flying in and out this summer, based on the number of seats American and others have scheduled between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to flight schedule service Cirium.
After two years of subdued flying, American and others are expecting more passengers and are using larger planes to get them between destinations.
Terminal C is American’s busiest at the airport and a major hub for domestic travel. It’s a part of $139 million gate expansion at the airport. The construction project is adding gates to the southern end of Terminal C next to the Skylink rail connecting the C and E terminals. The new gates will be numbered 36 through 39.
The project is funded through gate and landing fees paid by airlines.
It’s one of several expansion projects the airport has undertaken during the last two years as airlines push growth and airport leaders study if and when to build another terminal that would cost several billion dollars.
DFW is also working on a similar project to add five gates to Terminal A. The new gates and a future overhaul of Terminal C are expected to cost about $1.5 billion, about half of what a proposed Terminal F was projected to cost when it was announced back in 2019.
Terminal C, one of the original terminals when DFW opened in 1974, has never had a complete overhaul and will be the last to get a makeover. The airport is working on the design for that project, and construction could start sometime in 2023.
Construction of Terminal F, a sixth terminal at the airport, is still on hold while the airport and airlines study how the air travel industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic setbacks.
The way that the airport built the most recent gate expansion could pave the way for how the entire Terminal C remodel goes. Construction crews built the six 7,000-square-foot sections individually on piers on the airport’s eastern side, allowing construction to start without interfering with airport operations. The 450-ton sections were transported in September and set into place on piers, connecting them to the main terminal. Crews then began interior work.
Building the expansion that way cut construction time by four to five months and saved “several million dollars,” Naja said, although final costs are still being tallied.
The modular design is now being considered for the rest of the Terminal C expansion, Naja said.
The expansion also has some architectural features that will give a hint to how the full terminal remodel will look, Naja said. There are curved pillars with rounded video screens to identify gates and flight information along with long video screens hanging from the ceiling to help passengers find their way.
Bathrooms have smart technology features such as stall vacancy lights and detectors to alert staff if paper goods are running low.
“This is a glimpse of what the C remodel will look like, only it will be more,” Naja said.
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