Drones that check runways for debris, an artificial intelligence system that answers operations calls and a four-legged robot for the bomb squad are among the technology DFW International Airport is adding, the airport's operations chief told its board, according to a Fort Worth Report account published Saturday.
The same Oct. 1 board meeting approved $353 million in new spending, with the largest pieces going to roads, taxiways and parking at Terminals E and F.
Where the $353 million goes
The board voted unanimously, the Fort Worth Report's Documenters notes say. The biggest items:
- $172 million to realign traffic leaving Terminal E and build two new taxiways beneath the Terminal F Skylink guideway
- $74 million for a Terminal F ticketing building, a 5,200-space parking garage, roadways and a vertiport for aircraft that take off and land vertically
- $33 million for 28 new rental car shuttle buses, eight of them electric and 20 running on compressed natural gas
Machines on the airfield
Jerome Woodard, executive vice president of operations, told the board the airport moves about 250,000 people a day and handles well over 2,000 flights daily, with about 45,000 people working there to serve roughly 85 million passengers a year.
Drones with infrared and thermal cameras now inspect taxiways and runways several times a day, which Woodard said finds debris more efficiently than staff driving the airfield. Six simulators with moving cabs train drivers of tugs, trucks and snow removal equipment.
