DFW Airport generates $78.3 billion in annual economic impact for North Texas, Chief Financial Officer Brian Butler told the airport's board of directors at its Sept. 3 meeting.
The figure comes from a Perryman Group study released in December 2025, measuring 2024 data. It marks a 69% increase from $46.4 billion in 2014, according to a DFW Airport news release. The study found the airport supports more than 684,000 regional jobs and generates $3.4 billion annually for local taxing entities.
Cargo operations account for $42 billion of the total. Tonnage grew 7.7% in 2025 compared to 2024, Butler said. On the passenger side, DFW added four airlines and 20 destinations in 2025, bringing its total to 271. That places DFW second only to Chicago O'Hare nationally.
Butler illustrated the stakes with a single route: one daily nonstop from Hong Kong on a Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 carrying 267 passengers generates $425 million in annual economic value through hotel and retail spending, he said. Each daily European nonstop generates $135 million.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, attending the meeting, said she would share the data with her team and suggested Butler do the same for all regional city governments.
Abbott directive looms over ablution facilities
The board also heard public comment on a politically charged dispute over Islamic ablution stations at the airport.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 14 directed a review of all state grants to entities operating Texas airports, including DFW, for possible revocation. He called the airport's plan to install ablution facilities in Terminal D restrooms "illegal religious discrimination," according to a statement on the governor's website.
Abbott also referred DFW and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation.
On Aug. 21, Abbott escalated the matter, sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice calling for a federal probe of ablution facilities at both airports, Reuters reported.
DFW immediately scrapped the Terminal D proposal after Abbott's Aug. 14 directive. The plan called for two ablution stations in a 170-square-foot renovation estimated at $115,000, according to Newsweek.
Two ablution stations beside the Terminal D Interfaith Chapel have operated since 2019.
Mustafaa Carroll, interim executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), petitioned the board to protect existing facilities and restore the expansion plans.
He called the ablution stations "accessible public infrastructure" and rejected the discrimination label.
"We 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," Carroll told the board.
Abdul-Rehman Asif, a CAIR-Texas DFW outreach coordinator who said he has used the airport's prayer facilities for four years while traveling to college, also urged the board to act. Delhi Ekambo, an Irving resident, made a similar plea.
Board Chair Vernon Evans noted that members are prohibited by the Texas Open Meetings Act from discussing matters raised during public comment. The board took no action.
Board approves autonomous wheelchair contract
The board unanimously approved a contract with Alba Robot, an Italian-American company, to deploy autonomous wheelchairs in Terminal D, according to the Fort Worth Report. The airport plans to start with two units serving international passengers traveling from gates D1 through D16 to U.S. Customs processing. DFW aims to have the wheelchairs in service before summer 2027. Alba Robot tested its vehicles at DFW during the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The board also held a moment of silence for Vernell Sturns, who died Aug. 23 at age 86. Sturns served as DFW Airport executive director from 1991 to 1993 and was Fort Worth's first Black assistant city manager. The board's next meeting date had not been posted as of Sept. 12.
