Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport - History

History

Wayne County authorities began planning for a new airport in the western portions of the county as early as 1927. The following year, the county acquired one square mile of land for an aviation facility, to be called Wayne County Airport, at the corner of Middlebelt and Wick Roads, the northeastern boundary of today's airport. Construction was completed in 1929, and the first official landing took place on February 22, 1930. That same year, Thompson Aeronautical Corporation, a forerunner of American Airlines, inaugurated service from Wayne County. From 1931 until 1945, the airport housed Michigan National Guard operations gained by the Army Air Force. It was also named Romulus Army Airfield during the war. The original runway (14/32) was later decommissioned. However, parts of it remain today as Taxiways M-4 and P-4, transversing from southeast of Runway 3R/21L through Runway 9L/27R and ending northwest of Runway 3L/21R.

Between 1947 and 1950, county officials expanded the small airport to become Detroit's primary airport. The airport was renamed Detroit-Wayne Major Airport in 1947 and over the next three years expanded in size threefold as three more runways were built. In 1949, runways 3L/21R and 9L/27R were built and in 1950 runway 4R/22L was added. During this time, most commercial traffic shifted from small Detroit City Airport (now Coleman Young International Airport) northeast of downtown Detroit to the larger Willow Run Airport over 20 mi (32 km) west of the city, and 10 mi (16 km) west of Wayne County Airport.

During the 1950s Pan-Am and BOAC began operations at Detroit-Wayne Major. In the April 1957 Official Airline Guide they were the only passenger airlines: three Pan Am DC-7Cs a week FRA-LHR-SNN-DTW-ORD and back, and one BOAC DC-7C a week LHR-PIK-YUL-DTW-ORD and back (skipping YUL on the return flight).

Vertical aerial pics of DTW (and the Detroit area) from 1949 and later years at 1956 marked a major turning point in the history of the growing airport. American Airlines agreed to shift operations to Detroit-Wayne and did so in October 1958, accompanied soon after by four other carriers. Also, the Civil Aviation Administration (by now known as the Federal Aviation Agency) announced that year the inclusion of Detroit-Wayne in the first group of American airports to receive new long-range radar equipment, enabling the airport to become the first inland airport in the United States certified for jet aircraft operations. Also in 1958, the L.C. Smith (South) Terminal was completed to accommodate the new carriers, and the airport was given its present name.

During the next decade the remaining passenger traffic at Willow Run gradually shifted to Metro Airport, and the North Terminal (later renamed the Davey Terminal) opened in 1966 to accommodate the new arrivals. Growing international traffic necessitated the building of a third terminal, the Michael Berry International Terminal, in 1974. The last of its original three parallel runways (3R/21L) was completed in 1976. A new parallel cross winds runway (9R/27L) opened in 1993.

Republic Airlines began hub operations in 1984, and its merger with Northwest Airlines in 1986 expanded the hub greatly. Transpacific operations began in 1987 with non-stop flights to Tokyo. The last of Metro's six runways (4L/22R) was completed in December 2001 in preparation for the opening of the mile-long, 122-gate, $1.2 billion McNamara Terminal in the airport midfield in 2002. The airport remained a hub airport for Northwest until the airline merged with Delta.

The present Runway 3L/21R has held four different identifier names. When opened in 1949, it was simply Runway 3/21. With the opening of the new west side Runway 3L/21R in 1950, the original 3/21 was renamed 3R/21L. With the opening of the new east side Runway 3R/21L in 1976, it was renamed 3C/21C. With the opening of Runway 4L/22R in December 2001 and the consequent splitting of the field into two sectors (3/21 on the east and 4/22 on the west) Runway 3C/21C was renamed Runway 3L/21R.

In 2009, Detroit Metro Airport launched its first social media efforts with participation in Twitter, Facebook and YouTube networks.

In April 2011, Lufthansa launched a unique curbside check-in and baggage check service for premium customers departing from DTW’s North Terminal to Frankfurt and beyond. In doing so, Lufthansa became the only airline allowing international customers departing from DTW to check their bags and receive a boarding pass directly at the curb, while DTW becomes Lufthansa’s first North American gateway to feature this service.