Dallas Love Field is preparing for a major renovation designed to accommodate millions more passengers each year while improving the airport experience \u2014 all without exceeding its federally imposed 20-gate limit.<\/p>\n
The Love Field Airport Expansion Plan, known as LEAP, is already in the design phase. Dallas City Council could consider approving the plan in the first part of next year, clearing the way for a series of changes expected to continue through 2033.<\/p>\n
Love Field already serves about 18 million passengers annually. Planners believe the airport could handle another 6 million a year, but reaching that capacity would require significant changes to its existing layout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time is right because Dallas is growing,\u201d Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert said.<\/p>\n
Tolbert appeared Thursday with Southwest Airlines CEO Robert Jordan to discuss the airport\u2019s future during the North Dallas Chamber\u2019s Aviation Summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my 38 years at Southwest \u2014 this is the best relationship we have ever had with the city of Dallas,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Plan would reshape terminal and passenger services<\/p>\n
The proposed renovation would change how passengers move through Love Field, beginning with the demolition of Garage A and moving ticketing, check-in and security upstairs.<\/p>\n
The plan also calls for widening the concourse by 50 feet to create more room for concessions and restrooms. A new parking garage, known as Garage D, is also part of the phased project.<\/p>\n
Jordan said Southwest wants to ensure the investment is used effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a lot of money \u2014 we want to spend it the right way,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
The work is intended to make the airport more efficient and improve the customer experience without expanding its footprint through additional gates.<\/p>\n
Federal law still limits Love Field to 20 gates<\/p>\n
Federal legislation limits Love Field to 20 gates, meaning the planned renovations will not add new gates to the airport.<\/p>\n
Jordan said Southwest is focused on making the existing facility work as well as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are completely focused on making the 18 gates at the airport experience the very best it can be,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n
Tolbert said Thursday that adding gates is not part of the current expansion plan, although she believes the possibility could come up in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at some point \u2014 I do believe \u2014 that it will be necessary,\u201d Tolbert said.<\/p>\n
For now, the focus remains on redesigning the airport to accommodate future passenger growth, with major improvements expected to roll out in phases through 2033.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Love Field is preparing for a major renovation designed to accommodate millions more passengers each year while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3881,102,104,20440,103,7329],"class_list":["post-480886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-air-travel","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-love-field","tag-dallas-news","tag-southwest-airlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480886","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=480886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}