DFW International Airport Ready To Serve Expected FivePercent Rise in Thanksgiving Travelers for 2010

(DFW Airport, TX – Nov. 18, 2010) – DFW International Airport expects about 1.7 million passengers to pass through the Airport for the eleven-day Thanksgiving 2010 holiday travel period, a healthy five percent increase over the holiday travel period from last year.

Even with the anticipated holiday surge, DFW customers should enjoy some of the fastest security wait times in the nation. The average peak wait time at DFW’s 16 checkpoints is three minutes or less, according to an October 2010 survey by the Transportation Security Administration.

The Thanksgiving travel period, from November 19 through November 29, will see its busiest travel days on the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, with more than 170,000 passengers expected at DFW each of those days.

“We continue to see travelers coming back in greater numbers, which is a testament to the outstanding customer experience DFW provides. It’s also a terrific sign for our region’s economic outlook,” said Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW Airport. “DFW’s airline partners have added eight new destinations in the past year, which means our passengers have even more choices and more competition when choosing to fly.”

DFW will be adding even more new flights in the first few weeks of December, with new service to Barbados and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on American Airlines, and with the arrival of Virgin America and its twice-daily service to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

DFW is also rolling out a fleet of environmentally friendly buses for customers of the Airport’s Rental Car Center. Painted a bright shade of blue, the 46 new ‘green’ buses are powered by clean burning compressed natural gas (CNG), and they meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 emissions requirements.

“With the addition of these new buses, we’ve converted over 95 percent of DFW’s vehicle fleet to alternative fuels, which truly demonstrates the Airport’s long-term commitment to environmental responsibility,” said Jim Crites, DFW executive vice president for operations.

The new buses produce 95 percent less NOx (nitrogen oxide) emissions than the diesel-powered buses they replace, and will reduce the Airport’s NOx emissions by an estimated 40 tons per year. The conversion from diesel to CNG also makes great economic sense in that it will save the Airport an estimated $250,000 per year in fuel costs.

DFW also unveiled a second Clean Energy CNG fueling station today, located adjacent to the Rental Car Center’s maintenance complex. The CNG station will be available for general public CNG fuel purchases.

For the Thanksgiving travel period, DFW will once again offer parking deals for customers, including coupons handed out at the Express lots when they are full. The coupons offer Terminal parking for $10 per day.

As the Thanksgiving travel period nears, drivers approaching the Airport’s north entrance (from Interstate 635, or Highways 114 and 121) are reminded to give themselves extra time to allow for the DFW Connector construction project now underway around the north entrance of the Airport. For the latest information about lane closures and to sign up for electronic updates via email or text message, visit www.DFWConnector.com.