American Airlines announced Thursday that they will be investing heavily in the facilities at their Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) hub. The airline will build a new larger catering kitchen as well as a Central Fulfillment Center and cargo mail facility.
On Thursday, American Airlines announced a series of new investments that airline is making at their Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) hub. First, the company is building a new larger catering kitchen to support the long-term growth strategy at its largest hub. Additionally, American is building a new state-of-the art parts distribution facility which will provide parts to the Airline’s global network, thereby reducing maintenance delays. American Airlines is growing rapidly at DFW, adding 15 new gates this year alone as well as a new Flagship Lounge. The airline currently operates over 900 daily departures from DFW, a number that is only likely to increase in the coming years. In Thursday’s announcement, American’s Vice President – DFW Hub Operations, Cedric Rockamore said,
“DFW remains a great source of opportunity and growth for American. These investments will ensure we can continue to welcome the world to and through DFW for a very long time. In addition to more space, the new kitchen will provide updated equipment and efficiencies to improve our catering operation, which improves our reliability and provides a better experience for our customers.
Construction on the new catering kitchen will begin in January 2020, replacing a facility that was built in 1982 which American has clearly outgrown. At a cost of $100M, the new construction project will support the first phase of DFW’s new ‘Terminal F’ and will include four new gates as well as customer areas on the southeast corner of ‘Terminal D.’ Construction is expected to take around 18 months, with the new facility opening in 2022.
The company also expects to break ground in January 2020 on a new 390,000 square-foot Central Fulfillment Center which will allow the airline to fulfill parts up to 75% faster throughout their global network. The facility will also include an expanded cargo mail facility allowing the Cargo Team to further optimize fleet, network and market demands. American Airlines also continues to develop new and optimize existing terminal spaces to support their expanding DFW operation.
American Airlines operates 6,800 daily flights to 365 destinations in 61 countries, serving more than 200M customers annually. The airline has invested more than $28B in its products and people since 2013 and now operates the youngest U.S. network carrier fleet
Source: American Airlines