American Airlines is in the midst of a massive expansion at DFW Airport.
"This is the largest expansion at a U.S. airline hub probably in 20 years or so," said Vasu Raja, American's Vice President of Planning. The Fort Worth based airline is adding 100 departures a day this summer from its largest hub.
The expanded schedule includes a combination of increased service to current destinations and completely new routes.
Among the new destinations from DFW are smaller U.S. markets, such as Harlingen and Del Rio, Texas. But there are also many new international markets, such as Munich, Dublin and Santo Domingo.
"When we connect Harlingen to DFW, what we're able to do is now create a ton of new markets. We take people from Honolulu, to London, to New York, Chicago," said Raja.
To make room for the expansion, American just opened 15 new gates in DFW's Terminal E satellite. Raja said it's part of an overall strategy aimed at boosting both American and DFW.
"We want to make DFW the premier global connecting hub," he said.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
American will now have more than 900 daily departures from DFW and more than 9000 one-stop destinations. Raja said that's more than any other airline hub city, including major players like Atlanta and Chicago.
As the person in charge of planning American's entire global network, Raja would not reveal where he wants American to fly next from DFW. But he's clearly thinking big.
"We see a huge opportunity to be able to grow international out of DFW." He also pointed to the booming North Texas economy and said, "There's virtually no destination that we would not contemplate out of DFW."
