Trump’s travel order won’t hurt DFW’s international growth, airport CEO says

Dallas-Fort Worth Airport has been at the center of protests in recent days over President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning refugees from entering the United States and restricting travel from seven mostly Muslim countries.

Despite the controversy, DFW’s chief executive officer said he doesn’t expect the new travel restrictions to have a long-term impact on the airport’s efforts to expand international flights. In recent years, airlines with service to the Middle East such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar have launched flights into DFW. Etihad is expected to expand to daily service at DFW later this week.

DFW’s CEO Sean Donohue said the number of travelers affected by the executive order is miniscule in terms of the airport’s long-term growth plans. The new restrictions, put in place as part of the Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” program aimed at keeping potential terrorists out of the United States, involves travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

“I have no concerns at all about that,” Donohue said. “We are probably going to see about 10 million international customers this year and, if you look at the percentage of customers who come from the countries impacted by the executive order, it’s a very, very, very small number.”

Donohue also said he was proud of the airport’s employees, especially those at the Department of Public Safety, who helped keep airport traffic moving smoothly during the weekend while hundreds of protesters gathered at DFW to speak out against the executive order and volunteers arrived to help detainees with their legal cases.

“Our focus the entire weekend was to make sure people were safe and secure,” Donohue said. “As you know, there were several hundred people here on both Saturday and Sunday and our DPS team did a magnificent job making sure it was organized, it was calm, and making sure all the customers could egress comfortably through the arrivals hall. That was our entire focus, was to make sure when you have that many people and emotions are high that the environment was safe and secure and out team did a terrific job.”

Donohue also complimented the protesters.

“I have to say, too, the protesters were very respectful to our DPS team,” he said. “So you put those two aspects together, and compare us to other airports, where I saw tear gas being used and people being arrested, I was really proud of how it all came together in a way that we kept it safe and secure and the protesters were respectful of our folks as well.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Trump’s travel order won’t hurt DFW’s international growth, airport CEO says."