The plan is also expected to ease Fort Worth's lingering concerns about uncontrolled expansion that could jeopardize the viability of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. The issue prompted a long-running legal battle between the two cities that Fort Worth eventually lost.
Fort Worth City Councilman Jim Lane said he expects city officials to be pleased with the plan.
"That issue divided this wonderful Metroplex for 25 years," Lane said. "I don't think Fort Worth is going to get into that anymore."
Today, nothing has changed. Dallas doesn't want to change the master plan to allow more than 32 gates or 250 commercial flights per day regardless of whether or not the Wright Amendment is repealed. The neighborhood groups don't want to see more gates or more flights, either.
Since Ft. Worth would be happy if there were no service whatsoever at Love Field, one can only assume they certainly wouldn't be in favor of going above the limits set forth in the master plan. The only ones who seem to want to challenge the master plan and increase the number of gates and flights at Love Field are the folks at American Airlines.
Back then though, in the Spring of 2001, Dallas and Ft. Worth were happy. The airlines and the neighborhood groups around Love Field were happy.
According to the Dallas Morning News about the only person who wasn't happy was T. Allan McArtor, Legend's chief executive who recalled that Legend was forced to build its own terminal after being refused permission to use the East Concourse.
Love Field wasn't the only airport expanding in the Metroplex. Its expansion paled in size and cost compared to DFW's.
DFW sold $355 million of revenue bonds in February 2000, and an additional $450 million of revenue bonds in June 2001 to fund construction of it's own 20 year, $2.6 billion expansion. Another $76 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds were sold to pay for a new airport hotel.
International Terminal D was the crown jewel of the airport's $2.6 billion Capital Development Program and would house 23 wide-body aircraft gates capable of accommodating 37,000 passengers per day or 12.8 million annually in a 2 million square foot terminal. It would also feature a nine-story 300-room Grand Hyatt Hotel (with a rooftop swimming pool) built on top of the terminal owned by DFW Airport and managed by Hyatt Hotel Corp.
The International Terminal would be equal in size to three football arenas the size of Texas stadium; include 120 ticketing positions; and a Federal Inspection Facility capable of processing 2,800 passengers per hour. Panoramic views, 70-foot ceilings, and concessions areas totaling 100,000 square feet would provide an abundance of choices for eating, shopping and browsing.
Connected to the terminal by enclosed, air- conditioned passenger halls with moving walkways, as well as elevators, would be an eight-level, 8,100-space parking garage. In addition, a three-level roadway access system to the terminal wiould provide convenience for passenger pick up and drop off.
A new bi-directional Automated People Mover system called Skylink would connect the new International Terminal with existing terminals A, B, C and E,
Texans like to do things with a bang, so the first order of business to clear the way for the new International Terminal would be a midnight implosion of the former Hyatt Hotel West.
In celebration, DFW planned to host a family-friendly party benefiting the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and United Way of Tarrant County to be held at a cargo facility located on the western edge of DFW.
Party attendees would have an excellent, unobstructed view of the implosion scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Sunday, September 16, 2001.
