D/FW AIRPORT -- In an effort to help the struggling concessionaires on the south side of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport's new Terminal D, American Airlines has agreed to shift 40 daily flights there by April.
The airport's finance committee is expected to hear details of the deal today. The full board could vote on it Thursday.
Although some of the concessionaires on the south side said they are relieved by the move, others say it won't be enough to make them profitable.
Concessionaires lately have raised concerns of an imbalance of terminal traffic. Fort Worth-based American Airlines operates about 114 daily departures on the north end of the terminal. But only about 20 fly out of the south end, which is also served by seven foreign carriers.
"I'm just trying to keep hope alive," said Mallas Osafo, co-owner of MallaSadi Men's Boutique, which has been struggling on the south side.
The 40 flights will come from Terminals A and C, where American is the sole tenant, to five gates on the south end of the 28-gate terminal. Three of those gates are owned by the airport board. Two are already leased by American.
American, which was 98 days late moving into the terminal, is leasing 19 gates, mostly for its international flights, but is also running some popular long-haul domestic routes out of Terminal D. It's also shifted some American Eagle flights to the terminal.
The airline presented the idea to airport management after being asked to help the concessionaires, said Tim Wagner, an American spokesman.
But not everyone is pleased.
Osafo, whose men's shop sits near Gate 12, said the new flights coming to gates 15 to 20 are still not close enough to bring more business to his shop.
"That isn't going to touch me," said Osafo, whose 1,100-square-foot shop is making as much as $700 a day when it was budgeted to make $10,000. "I'm so frustrated about it. When I think about it, I go sick. It's because it's killing me."
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