Behind the scenes at American Airlines’ giant Fort Worth campus and DFW

This is what AvGeek dreams are made of.

Several of us at TPG got a behind-the-scenes look at American Airlines’ Fort Worth, Texas headquarters, training facilities and operations center. We also got up close and personal with the airport operations at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), America’s second busiest airport and American’s mega-hub.

Here’s some of what we saw.

American Airlines’ headquarters in Fort Worth

American Airlines has invited TPG to its sprawling campus a few times since it opened back in 2019.

This time, TPG senior aviation reporter Sean Cudahy, points and miles lead reporter Katie Genter, aviation managing editor Ben Mutzabaugh and I received the coveted invite to what the airline calls “Skyview” — and we made the most of it.

While we didn’t have time to see anywhere close to everything on the 300-acre campus, we did see a few highlights.

The headquarters cost an estimated $350 million — and it shows.

DFW suggested the entire campus may represent as much as a $1 billion investment by the airline. Oneworld, the global airline alliance that American is part of, moved to the campus in 2022.

Once you enter the massive building American calls Skyview 8, you’ll see a huge open lobby with meeting rooms arranged in concentric circles around it.

Walking in, you’ll want to first look upward at the ceiling, which is designed to resemble the inside of a jet engine.

We also got a look at the executive boardroom.

Check out the sweeping views of the campus from inside Skyview 8.

The main building is filled with aviation-themed artwork, like the giant seat belt sculpture below.

We all enjoyed the sculpture in another lobby made entirely of safety cards. I loved seeing the cards for planes AA no longer flies, which brought back some happy memories of flying the Airbus A330s that American retired during the pandemic. I got to fly those jets in the days when they belonged to US Airways.

The wall of airplane models made me want to put a few in my suitcase. I’ve got a few airplane models at home, but none from American Airlines.

There was aviation-themed art throughout the building.

Also on display: American Airlines cabin crew uniform accessories.

Of course, the engine model was a big hit with TPG.

The odes to flight even extended to the employee cafeteria, which featured an engine fan blade chandelier.

American also showed off some of its latest bedding and new amenity kits. The airline will continue to use existing amenity kits, but it’s also mixing in new kits from  Los Angeles-based beauty retailer Thirteen Lune, along with lotions and lip balms by brands like Joanna Vargas and Relevant.

Bedding is also getting a major upgrade: American is ditching single-use plastic and making new pillows and blankets from recyclable materials. The blankets are branded John Horsfall from the Re-Thread collection, and the slippers and pajamas are from Nest.

American Airlines’ Integrated Operations Center

As part of the tour, American showed off the Integrated Operations Center, essentially the airline’s nerve center. This space is mammoth, clocking in at 149,000 square feet.

The center handles more than 20 unique airline functions, with some 1,700 employees working 24/7 to keep American running smoothly.

Workers handle crew scheduling and tracking, central load planning, cargo operations control, inflight operations support, meteorology, dispatch, maintenance, and customer service, among other functions. There are screens and computers everywhere, and various pods of workers are spread over a cavernous space. There’s also a huge conference room that is activated in case of irregular operations or other problems.

One of the largest areas in the room is a raised platform in the center of the IOC that American calls “The Bridge.” On its website, American says this is where “the duty director works with all functions to make decisions that keep our operation running safely and efficiently 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Key IOC workgroups are also represented on the bridge to ensure quick and efficient information sharing and collaboration.”

American says it tracks 1,500 aircraft and more than 6,000 flights every single day.

As an aviation fan, I was even more excited to see all the airline memorabilia throughout the operations center.

Check out the fun little shuttle bus called Skyview Express that carries employees and guests around campus.

American Airlines’ Flight Training Academy

American has a very robust training operation on its Fort Worth campus. The DFW Flight Training Academy trains hundreds of pilots every month. American said, “Each year, American’s pilots operate millions of challenging flight training miles, testing on thousands of emergency scenarios and malfunctions to ensure safety and preparedness.”

Take a look at the life-size mock-ups of aircraft with swimming pools to train on water landings.

There were also full-size models of aircraft, like the Airbus A321T, where flight attendants could train in a real-life environment.

We also got a look at firefighting and self-defense training classrooms, where cabin crew trainees learn and brush up on critical skills each must have to be a flight attendant.

There are even pretend gates set up to train support staff. Standing in this room, you’d almost think you were inside an airport terminal.

Skyview 3 houses American’s Flight Training Academy, simulators and classrooms. We got to take turns using one of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight simulators; American has 30 mainline full-flight simulators at this location alone!

It was an incredible experience to pretend to take off and land in the simulator — bucket list item checked off the list there.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) control room and operations

We also got a look around the nerve center for American’s hub operation at DFW. Just behind an otherwise plain-looking door, there was an elevator that took us to the top of a building containing dozens of workstations filled with hundreds of screens.

Individual staffers were tracking every aspect of getting a flight going on time, from the catering to the boarding. These are the people who piece together the puzzle that is running American’s busiest hub operation.

I worked in television control rooms for much of my life prior to joining TPG. This was a bit like a cable news control room, only on steroids.

There are cameras tracking every gate and every plane, and various shots of the aprons and runways.

It was pretty impressive seeing just how much work goes into keeping American Airlines’ runway operations on track.

Out on the tarmac and apron at DFW

American also showed off some of the busy “apron” area at DFW, where planes are loaded with cargo, food and baggage before each flight.

We also examined the underbelly of one of the terminals and the incredibly complex way bags are moved to and from the airport’s gates and apron.

Bottom line

This visit to the American Airlines campus and DFW goes down as one of my all-time favorite AvGeek experiences, and I’m so glad American let us share a bit with you.

I’m hoping to take another trip to the campus at some point so I can see the CR Smith Museum and the employee hotel that opened in January of 2023.

All in all, it’s one of the world’s finest airline campuses, and hopefully serves as an inspiration for the lucky employees who get to call it home (even for short training periods).

Related reading:

• American Airlines elite status: What it is and how to earn it
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• American Airlines basic economy: What you need to know about bags, seats, boarding and more