Airports in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are well-known for their disruptions and delays, so what should you know heading into the summertime travel season?
The U.S. airline industry expects robust travel volume during the 2023 summer season. However, a history of delays at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field has some experts cautioning travelers to be mindful of unexpected flight changes by preparing ahead and signing up for up-to-date notifications on airline news.
With travel volume at Dallas-area airports forecast to reach pre-pandemic levels over the summer, Hayley Berg, a lead economist at the travel website Hopper, says it is only natural to expect a greater number of delays and disruptions.
“DFW is definitely going to be high volume, and with high volume just means that on a percentage basis, more people are going to be disrupted when a disruption happens,” said Berg, as reported by The Dallas Morning News.
In 2022, DFW Airport was ranked the second busiest airport in the U.S., having logged 73.4 million passengers over the year, according to the Airports Council International World, a trade association that represents 1,925 airports, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
During the year, DFW International Airport reported 53,924 delays on arriving flights and 8,188 cancellations, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
A breakdown of the disruptions over the 2022 summer season shows that DFW airport reported 25% of flights as delayed and 3% as canceled.
“We’re just in a totally different situation now,” said Berg, per The Dallas Morning News. “Airlines have brought capacity back that they can actually service, airports have staffed up. … The FAA, air traffic control, you name it, have all staffed up.”
While Berg does not expect the industry to face as much of a crush in 2023, she forecasts baseline disruption across major airport hubs.
To prepare for potential delays, Berg recommends securing trip insurance, picking the first scheduled flight of the day to avoid “snowball” delays, and choosing travel dates with less airport traffic, like Wednesday and Saturday.
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