Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport CEO Sean Donohue is retiring after 12 years on the job. 온라인카지노사이트 5 caught up with Donohue to reflect on his time in North Texas before his departure.
When asked why now is the right time to step away, Donohue laughs. "I joke that aviation is like dog years," he said. "You can multiply it by seven because it's such a crazy industry."
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WATCH HEREAn early priority for Donohue was raising the airport's profile. "Globally, I always felt we had a real opportunity to get DFW Airport and the region on the global stage. So pretty quickly we started prioritizing the growth of international service."
Donohue said when he arrived, Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston had more international service than DFW. Today it's the other way around. Under Donohue's leadership, the number of international destinations from DFW has grown from 53 to 73.
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SIGN UP "You can fly nonstop to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand. Who would have ever guessed that ten years ago?" he said.
It hasn't always been a smooth ride. The year 2020 brought the COVID-19 pandemic. "We lost 95% of our business in two weeks, and so the impact was massive," Donohue said.
Despite that, Donohue did not furlough any of the airport's workers. DFW also waived rent payments for 18 months for airport concessionaires. When the pandemic finally eased, nearly all of them were still in business. "We made some decisions that I look back on, and I feel good about," Donohue said.
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DFW Airport is now in the midst of a $9 billion expansion and improvement program. That includes Terminal C, the airport's oldest. Donohue is candid about the need. "Terminal C just needs to be desperately torn down and rebuilt. I think every customer that's gone through C would agree with that."
Even DFW Airport's road network is getting an extreme makeover. "One of the odd things about DFW, as people know, is when you're going to the terminal, you go left, which is not intuitive. We're going to rebuild all of those bridges in those exits, so you go right," Donohue explained.
Looking further into the future, Donohue says he expects DFW will get even bigger. The airport's enormous footprint, mapped out more than 50 years ago, still has plenty of space to spare. "If you look out 20, 25 years from now, we know where the seventh terminal will go. We know where the eighth terminal will go." Donohue says an eighth runway is also possible.
Despite his overall optimism, Donohue sees storm clouds gathering for the industry. "Unpredictable doesn't even describe the situation right now, economically, geopolitically. And therefore it is having an impact on travel. Demand is down. When there's uncertainty, people are going to travel less. I don't know how long that's going to last."
It will be up to Donohue's successor to navigate whatever comes next. "Hopefully, they will have different perspectives. They might have different priorities," Donohue said. An announcement on a new CEO is expected soon.
As for Donohue's legacy, he hopes travelers at DFW won't just see it, but they will feel it. "Travel can be hard, as we know. And hopefully we've made it a little bit more enjoyable. Hopefully, we've made it a little bit more predictable so you can count on certain things. Hopefully, we've made it a little bit more comfortable. But probably most importantly, I hope the people in the region, when they look at DFW, are proud of the airport."
Donohue's last day at DFW will be sometime in mid-May. After more than 40 years in the aviation industry, he says he looks forward to spending more time with family, especially his grandchildren.
