Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport used its position as host of the recent 2008 Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition to show off the development of its own facility.

DFW has been involved with the conference since its first year in Orlando in 2002, DFW CEO Jeff Fegan said. “DFW has many examples of non-aviation development that airports across the world are trying to attract,” he said. “We don’t have residential [housing], but we do have hotels, golf courses, corporate campuses and cargo.”

DFW is a good example of what can be done at an airport, and the facility still has plenty of airport land to develop, Fegan said. “I believe in the concept and the theory of how cities are developed around airports, and the aerotropolis is a valid development,” he said. “It’s an interesting concept, and we’re interested in doing it not only to generate airline and cargo business, but all the revenue we generate from non-airline sources lowers our cost structure. That reduces the cost of the airport to airlines.”

Fegan spoke about experiences at DFW as part of the opening panel on how airport cities can be catalysts for economic development.

“I started with a historic perspective by showing photos from 1965, when there was nothing here,” he said. “The airport has had a profound impact on the development landscape of the region.”

The presentation also covered newer proposals at DFW, including hotels, office buildings and five sit-down restaurants, Fegan said. “We want to be able to serve our customers, travelers and the 55,000 employees here. We want to attract companies with a strategic reason to be at the airport,” he said. “We have so much land, and we want to be focused.”

Almost 50 countries were represented at the conference, Fegan said. “We had a lot of folks from China, along with major airports that have already embraced the airport city concept,” he said. “Amsterdam Schiphol, considered to be the father of the airport city concept, along with representatives from South Korea’s Incheon, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, all made presentations. Frankfurt, which does a tremendous amount of activities, was there.”

The conference also saw airports wanting to learn more about the concept, including Detroit Metro, Atlanta, Washington Dulles and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Fegan said. “Many airports are considering creating zoning classification around their airports that are aerotropolis-related,” he said.