DALLAS — This story originally appeared in the Dallas Business Journal, a WFAA news partner.
Officials expect more than 4 million passengers to come through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport over the holiday travel period over the next few weeks.
During the 20 days from Dec. 15 to Jan. 3, officials expect an average of 201,000 passengers to travel through DFW daily. Overall, they forecast 4.1 million passengers will come through the airport, down about 4% from the 2019 holiday travel period.
This year's busiest days are expected to be Dec. 23 and Dec. 30, the Fridays before Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
“DFW Airport is ready to warmly welcome our holiday passengers. With over 260 destinations to choose from, we are happy to be a part of our customers’ travel journey to visit loved ones or whatever their holiday plans entail and will strive to provide an elevated experience while in our terminals,” CEO Sean Donohue said in a statement. “The large volume of passengers caps off a very successful 2022.”
Travel has come back in a big way this year across the U.S., and DFW has been a part of the recovery. During Thanksgiving, the airport experienced a full recovery with more than 2.5 million customers.
American Airlines, which has its largest hub at DFW, carried more than 5.3 million customers on nearly 50,000 flights from Nov. 18–27. About 6,700 of those flights originated at DFW, according to Cirium.
The Fort Worth-based carrier has more than 14,000 flights with an average of 143 seats per departure scheduled to originate from DFW during the December holiday travel period, according to Cirium.
Donohue said he looks forward to DFW continuing its growth next year. Airport officials anticipate welcoming more than 78 million customers in 2023, exceeding 2019 levels.
On a monthly basis, DFW exceeded pre-pandemic traffic levels for the first time in April. So far this year, through October, about 61 million passengers have traveled through DFW. That’s up 20.5% from the same time last year but down 2.7% from 62.7 million passengers through the first 10 months of 2019.
DFW officials recommend customers traveling the next few weeks arrive to the airport at least two hours before a domestic or international flight to allow ample time for check-in and security screening. Parking garages and lots will be busy, and Terminals C and D tend to fill up quickly.