Dallas Love Field

DAL KDAL  Dallas, United States

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… aircraft nearby

DAL at a glance

  • What it is: Dallas Love Field is a regional airport serving Dallas, United States.
  • Codes: DAL on your ticket, KDAL on the radar.
  • How busy: the reference profile lists about 16.6 million annual passengers across 3 runways.
  • Main airline: Southwest Airlines bases aircraft here.
  • Right now: 119 aircraft are within 55 km, shown live on the map above.
  • Local time zone: America/Chicago (UTC-5), so every time shown for DAL is local rather than UTC.

Aircraft observed near DAL

119 aircraft are within 55 km of DAL right now. This is live ADS-B traffic, not a published timetable: aircraft are classified by what they are physically doing - Climbing out, on approach, or holding at cruise overhead. For gate numbers and scheduled times, check with DAL directly or your airline.

Departing now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
SWA1276 Southwest Airlines route not published on stand or taxiing 550 ft —
SWA5 Southwest Airlines route not published on stand or taxiing — —
SWA277 Southwest Airlines route not published on stand or taxiing — —
JSX221 — route not published on stand or taxiing — 14 kts
SWA1269 Southwest Airlines route not published on stand or taxiing — 8 kts
SWA2061 Southwest Airlines route not published on stand or taxiing — 10 kts
EJA983 — route not published on stand or taxiing 550 ft 99 kts
N472TX — route not published on stand or taxiing — —

Arriving now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
N26GE — route not published on approach 700 ft 79 kts
JTL329 — route not published on approach 1,500 ft 138 kts
AAL1337 American Airlines route not published on approach 12,000 ft 252 kts
SWA1353 Southwest Airlines route not published on approach 3,875 ft 229 kts
JIA5655 — route not published on approach 1,175 ft 143 kts
N405CA — route not published on approach 1,725 ft 109 kts
MRA435 — route not published on approach 1,900 ft 135 kts
ENY3999 — route not published on approach 1,325 ft 124 kts

Overhead and in the area

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
SWA2147 Southwest Airlines route not published in the area 525 ft 156 kts
N801TV — route not published in the area 1,200 ft 32 kts
TRF501 — route not published in the area — —
UPS2310 — route not published in the area 35,025 ft 475 kts
ENY3969 — route not published in the area 1,900 ft 167 kts
N38AU — route not published in the area 2,025 ft 162 kts
AAL2081 American Airlines route not published in the area 12,075 ft 342 kts
ENY3721 — route not published in the area — 33 kts
16.6M
Annual passengers (reference)
3
Runways
1
Terminals
487 ft
Field elevation

About DAL

The original commercial airport for Dallas and the birthplace and headquarters of Southwest Airlines. For decades the federal Wright Amendment limited flights from Love Field to nearby states, a restriction fully lifted in 2014. It is now capped at 20 gates but handles heavy short-haul volume just a few miles from downtown.

Dallas Love Field opened in 1917, in October, as an Army training field. It was named for Lieutenant Moss Lee Love, a pilot killed in a crash in California four years earlier. The city of Dallas bought the field in 1927. For the next four decades, Love Field was Dallas's airport, growing into one of the busiest in the country by the 1960s.

Braniff and other airlines made Love Field their home base for years. It was from here that Air Force One left for Washington on 22 November 1963, carrying the body of President Kennedy. When Dallas Fort Worth opened in 1974, both cities meant for Love Field to close to airline traffic completely. But Southwest Airlines, which began flying there in 1971 within Texas only, refused to move at all.

The fight that followed led to the Wright Amendment of 1979, a federal law that limited flights from Love Field to Texas and nearby states for 35 years. Those limits finally ended in October 2014 under a deal that also capped the airport at 20 gates forever. Required extra gates to be torn down. Love Field is now busy, but deliberately limited, and still run largely by Southwest.

How DAL operates today

Love Field has two runways side by side, 13L/31R and 13R/31L, plus a shorter crosswind strip used when winds blow across the main runways. All three are packed onto a tight site ringed by Dallas neighborhoods. A legal deal caps the airport at 20 gates, and Southwest controls most of them, while Delta and Alaska use the rest. That means capacity stays fixed no matter how much demand grows.

The terminal was rebuilt and reopened in 2014 as a single connected concourse. Southwest's headquarters and pilot training center sit right on the field. Private business flying is heavy here too, backed by busy operators that serve corporate Dallas.

Top routes from DAL

DestinationMain airlinesWhy it matters
Houston (HOU) Southwest The route Southwest was founded on in 1971, still flown many times a day between the two cities.
Denver (DEN) Southwest A high frequency link between two of Southwest's largest operations, heavy with connecting traffic.
Chicago (MDW) Southwest Connects Southwest's Dallas home with its Chicago stronghold, a core business market.
Las Vegas (LAS) Southwest One of the biggest leisure routes from Love Field, only possible after the Wright Amendment ended.
Atlanta (ATL) Southwest, Delta A busy long haul domestic route that became available once flight restrictions were lifted in 2014.

Facts about DAL

  • Love Field is named for Lieutenant Moss Lee Love, an Army pilot killed in a 1913 crash.
  • Air Force One carrying President Kennedy's body departed from Love Field on 22 November 1963.
  • Federal law restricted flights from Love Field to Texas and nearby states for 35 years under the Wright Amendment.
  • A legal settlement permanently caps the airport at 20 gates, so it cannot grow by building more.

Plane spotting at DAL

The Frontiers of Flight Museum sits on the field with a good ramp view, and the streets near Bachman Lake north of the runways are a long standing spot under the approach. Traffic is overwhelmingly Southwest 737s with a strong business jet presence. New to spotting? Start with our aircraft identification guide and the world's best spotting airports.

IATA / ICAO
DAL / KDAL
Location
Dallas, United States 32.847, -96.852
Time zone
America/Chicago
Opened
1917
Hub for
Southwest Airlines
Website
www.dallas-lovefield.com

Airlines hubbed at DAL

WN · SWA Southwest Airlines United States

Tracked flights using DAL

Selected scheduled services whose curated route starts, ends or stops at Dallas Love Field.

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
WN1 DAL → HOU Boeing 737-700Track WN1 →
WN1380 LGA → DAL Boeing 737-700Track WN1380 →
WN2 HOU → DAL Boeing 737-800Track WN2 →

Nearby and related airports

Geographically close airports and useful alternatives in United States.

DFW Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Dallas - Fort Worth, United States IAH George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston, United States HOU William P. Hobby Airport Houston, United States MEM Memphis International Airport Memphis, United States DEN Denver International Airport Denver, United States ATL Hartsfield - Jackson Atlanta International Airport Atlanta, United States IND Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis, United States MDW Chicago Midway International Airport Chicago, United States

More airports and guides connected to DAL

Most of the tails you see here belong to Southwest Airlines. How a field like this runs day to day is covered in how airports work. Nearby, Dallas - Fort Worth (DFW) serves the same country. The codes DAL and KDAL are explained in airport codes decoded.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

Passenger, runway, terminal and hub figures are maintained as a reviewed reference snapshot, not a live operational record. Check the airport directly before travelling.

Read our airport data sourcing and review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Frequently asked questions about DAL

What is the airport code for Dallas Love Field?

Dallas Love Field uses the IATA code DAL on tickets and baggage tags, and the ICAO code KDAL in flight plans and on radar. The leading “K” in KDAL is the region marker: ICAO codes are grouped geographically, which is why airports near each other usually share their first letter or two while their IATA codes look unrelated.

How many runways does DAL have?

Dallas Love Field operates 3 runways across 1 passenger terminal. The field sits at 487 ft above sea level.

How busy is DAL?

This reference profile lists roughly 16.6 million annual passengers for Dallas Love Field. You can see aircraft observed departing, arriving and overhead on this page, taken from live ADS-B broadcasts.

Which airlines are based at DAL?

Southwest Airlines treat DAL as a hub or major base. Many other carriers serve the airport without basing aircraft there.

How many terminals does DAL have?

This reference lists Dallas Love Field with 1 passenger terminal. Check the airport or operating airline for the terminal assigned to a specific flight.

What time zone is DAL in?

Dallas Love Field runs on America/Chicago, currently UTC-5. Flight trackers work in UTC internally, so the seven-day history on our flight pages is stamped UTC while the boards on this page are in DAL local time - worth remembering when the two disagree by a whole calendar day.

Can I track flights at DAL live?

Yes. The map on this page shows every aircraft broadcasting its position within about 55 km of Dallas Love Field, and there are 119 in range as this page loaded. The boards split them into departures, arrivals and traffic passing overhead, all timed in America/Chicago.