\u201cFrom my very first interaction, it was evident that Vernell was a man of exceptional character, intelligence and vision,\u201d Evans said. \u201cHe carried himself with professions of dignity and a quiet confidence that inspired those around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sturns later served as executive director of DFW Airport from 1991 to 1993.<\/p>\n
\u201cVernell\u2019s life reminds us that true leadership is not measured solely by titles or achievements, but by the positive impact we have on others,\u201d Evans concluded.<\/p>\n
Advocacy for restoration of Islamic ritual washing facilities<\/p>\n
On Aug. 14, Gov. Greg Abbott directed<\/a> a review of all state grants to entities that operate airports in Texas, including DFW Airport and Houston\u2019s George Bush Intercontinental Airport for possible revocation due to what he called illegal religious discrimination, based on the airports\u2019 plans to install ablution facilities<\/a> for Islamic wudu washing rituals prior to prayer.<\/p>\n Abbott also referred both airports to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation and enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n DFW immediately abandoned<\/a> its plans to install ablution facilities in restrooms on the pre-security side of the international Terminal D. Two stations have been in operation in the post-security area of that same terminal since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mustafaa Carroll, interim executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, petitioned the board to protect existing ablution facilities at the airport and to restore plans for installing additional facilities in Terminal D.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe condemn the manufactured controversy created by our governor, threatening to withhold state funding from the DFW International Airport for Muslim and other travelers as the latest anti-Muslim political stunt and a waste of taxpayer resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Carroll rejected the characterization that the ablution stations are discriminatory. He instead referred to them as \u201caccessible public infrastructure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Abdul-Rehman Asif, outreach coordinator for CAIR-Texas DFW, relayed that he has frequently used DFW Airport over the past four years to travel to college in the northeastern U.S.<\/p>\n He said he always makes time at the airport to pray before his flights and has appreciated the support and kind words from other travelers while doing so.<\/p>\n \u201cSo today, I am here to protect what I felt all those years, and to protect accommodations that have been in this airport since 2019,\u201d Asif said.<\/p>\n Delhi Ekambo, a resident of Irving, made similar pleas for the board to reverse their decision. She reiterated that Muslim travelers and employees must perform ritual washing before prayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWithout these facilities, they may have to use restroom sinks, so these ablution stations make it safer, cleaner, easier and less disruptive for everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The board listened intently to all three speakers. Evans pointed out members are prohibited by the Texas Open Meetings Act from engaging in discussion or deliberation regarding matters raised during public comment.<\/p>\n Autonomous wheelchairs coming to Terminal D<\/p>\n The board unanimously approved a new contract for autonomous wheelchair services from Alba Robot, an Italian-American company based in Turin, Italy, with a U.S. headquarters in Detroit.<\/p>\n Katie Chaumont, DFW Airport assistant vice president of communications, told the Fort Worth Report that the airport plans to begin with a small initial deployment of two autonomous wheelchairs in Terminal D, supporting international arriving customers traveling from gates D1 through D16 to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing area.<\/p>\n She said service is intended to supplement DFW\u2019s existing wheelchair operations, providing additional mobility support as demand for wheelchair assistance continues to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll take a phased approach, beginning with two chairs in the first year and evaluating the operation and customer experience before considering additional units,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The goal is to have the first two chairs in service before summer 2027.<\/p>\n A July 14 company news release<\/a> described testing that was conducted at DFW Airport during the FIFA World Cup 2026 using single-passenger vehicles outfitted with advanced sensors and artificial intelligence-based navigation to safely route around obstacles and people.<\/p>\n \u201cOur platform has been operational at DFW since May 2026 and is now deployed across airports in the United States, Europe and the Middle East,\u201d Alba Robot\u2019s CEO and co-founder, Andrea Bertaia Segato, told the Report.<\/p>\n \u201cThe DFW deployment marks a major milestone, representing one of the largest commercial autonomous mobility contracts ever awarded at a major international airport.\u201d<\/p>\n DFW Airport Board of Directors<\/p>\n Documenter: Doug Wilhelm<\/p>\n Date: Sept. 3, 2026<\/p>\n Learn more about this meeting by clicking here<\/a>. For the agenda, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Doug Wilhelm is a member of the Fort Worth Report Documenters<\/a> crew. If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at news@ortworthreport.org<\/a> with \u201cCorrection Request\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/09\/12\/dfw-airport-cfo-highlights-economic-engine-of-the-region\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=774637&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/09\/12\/dfw-airport-cfo-highlights-economic-engine-of-the-region\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Doug Wilhelm, Fort Worth Report September 12, 2026 Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the \u201ceconomic engine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5721,8219,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-435079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-dfw-airport","tag-documenters","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ALBA-Ride-at-DFW-Terminal-D-1024x714.png\")
An Alba Ride autonomous passenger robot under testing at DFW Airport Terminal D during the FIFA World Cup 2026. An 11-inch tablet display conveys trip information, safety messaging and entertainment content, and an external high-resolution rear display can be used for operational messaging or digital advertising content. (Courtesy | Alba Robot)<\/p>\n