US. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport’s international terminal D, a new two million-square foot facility, is scheduled to open in a little more than a year. Approximately 100,000sq ft (9,294sq m) of this space will be used for concession areas.
The new terminal will have two levels of shopping, food & beverage and entertainment all within a few minutes walking time of the boarding gates. The project is the future concessions showcase – branded as the Village Concept – for the world’s sixth biggest airport.
The Requests for Proposals will be released next month and there will also be a pre-proposal conference on site during June for prospective proposers. The due date for bids, to be confirmed, will be during August.
The concession areas are to be sectioned into comfortable villages – around a U-shape with a central core – each with unique colour schemes and distinguishable architectural features, creating an easy-to-navigate environment. The villages will be built around a main street and several avenues, with concession spaces and lounges that the airport authority says will be unlike any other airport facility. Local and international artists have been commissioned to add their final touches throughout the terminal.
In addition, visitors in DFW’s four other terminals will be able to ride SkyLink, the airport’s new automated people mover system, to international terminal D in a matter of minutes, significantly increasing traffic to the new terminal.
There are a variety of concession opportunities available in International terminal D, consisting of retail and newsstands, passenger services, food & beverage, and duty free. A total 34 retail locations will be available over a total 38,000sq ft. The available concepts will include a Texas apparel store, office products, books, US designer fashion, distinctive gifts, luggage, packaged food, electronics/music, fine jewellery, shoes/leathergoods, fashion jewellery, fashion watches/sunglasses, gadgets, soaps & scents, arts & crafts, toys/hobbies, souvenirs, news, news and coffee, a day spa and a destination products store.
There will also be a total 24 food & beverage locations over 35,000sq ft. Concepts here will include a café/bar with entertainment, deli/bakery, grill/panini/deli, Italian cuisine, TexMex/Latin/Southwest cuisine, Asian cuisine, coffee/pastry/dessert, frozen desserts, snacks, healthy cuisine, barbecue, burger, casual dining and a marche concept.
DFW has a high-quality and diverse mix of passengers that have to be catered to: they include 41% leisure passengers and 59% business. More than 56% of DFW’s passengers have a household income of more than US$50,000. Average dwell time is high at 70 minutes with many transiting passengers.
One out of every ten connecting passengers in the US pass through DFW, and transit passengers represent 10.2% of the total. Last year the airport handled 52.5 million passengers, and 26.2 million enplaned passengers. The airport’s own forecasts show passenger traffic rising steadily in the next few years, reaching 32.2 million enplaned passengers by 2009.
Concession sales in 2003 across the airport were almost US$150 million, of which 72.5% was generated by DBE businesses. One of the stated objectives for DFW is to make a significant contribution to the existing non-aviation revenues, whilst providing for flexibility in design and individual identities for stores and restaurants.
