Encompassing 27 square miles, Dallas/Fort Worth International is one of the world's largest and busiest airports, accommodating more than 150,000 passengers each day. The 1974 opening of "D/FW" was preceded by nearly half a century of an often acrimonious aviation rivalry between Dallas and Fort Worth that featured a colorful cast of business leaders, municipal officials, and airline executives. Through its first 40 years, D/FW grew from a regional hub into a global crossroads for passenger and air cargo service. Bold, imaginative leadership sustained the airport through the failure of its largest tenant airline, the effects of 9/11, an air traffic controllers' strike, and more than one fuel crisis. An extraordinary economic engine for North Texas, D/FW stands poised to become home to the world's largest airline, validating the original planners' dream of a dynamic focal point for domestic and international commercial aviation.