Qantas' Dallas/Fort Worth Strategy

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Airport has hailed Qantas’ announcement that it will start serving the North Texas hub from Sydney as a major landmark in its development as an oneworld hub. Speaking exclusively to Routes News about the new Sydney–North Texas service, Jeff Fegan, Chief Executive Officer of DFW Airport, said that the new route is expected to bring significant economic benefit to the state and will create more oneworld opportunities for the hub.

“This is an exciting new route and we characterise it as a real game changer that opens DFW to a new part of the world,” said Fegan. “Australia is a great leisure and business market and this new route is a great opportunity for economic growth. It is estimated that four weekly international flights will bring $131 million a year in economic benefits. It also opens up two major Australian cities to North Texas.”

In addition, the new service opens the door for further commercial partnership between Qantas and American Airlines, DFW’s main airline client. This could eventually see Qantas’ network gaining an additional 13 US and three Mexican destinations through AA-operated codeshare agreements. “We will be seeing more oneworld activity here, as the connections beyond DFW are quite extraordinary. Qantas is a big one for us,” confirmed Fegan.

With the new Qantas service, DFW has 188 destinations, including 144 domestic and 44 international points and American Airlines has 750 departures a day from DFW.

* Read the full interview with DFW Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Fegan, in the latest edition of Routes News here. A copy of the world air service development magazine is also in all delegate bags at Routes Americas and Routes Tourism Mediterranean.