Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

DTW KDTW  Detroit, United States

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DTW at a glance

  • What it is: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is a major international airport serving Detroit, United States.
  • Codes: DTW on your ticket, KDTW on the radar.
  • How busy: the reference profile lists about 36.8 million annual passengers across 6 runways.
  • Main airline: Delta Air Lines bases aircraft here.
  • Right now: 20 aircraft are within 55 km, shown live on the map above.
  • Local time zone: America/New_York (UTC-4), so every time shown for DTW is local rather than UTC.

Aircraft observed near DTW

20 aircraft are within 55 km of DTW 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 DTW directly or your airline.

Departing now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
CXK679 — route not published climbing out 950 ft 80 kts
CXK231 — route not published climbing out 3,600 ft 78 kts

Arriving now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
EDV4881 — route not published on approach 775 ft 136 kts
FFT2898 — route not published on approach 775 ft 128 kts
SKW4231 — route not published on approach 1,025 ft 129 kts
SKW3976 — route not published on approach 3,900 ft 203 kts
DAL274 Delta Air Lines route not published on approach 11,400 ft 308 kts
DAL1070 Delta Air Lines route not published on approach 5,750 ft 273 kts
N13HE — route not published on approach 4,575 ft 179 kts
N7393X — route not published on approach 1,100 ft 61 kts

Overhead and in the area

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
N123TV — route not published in the area 1,400 ft 79 kts
SKW4791 — route not published in the area 33,000 ft 454 kts
N6860H — route not published in the area 2,525 ft 101 kts
JBU424 JetBlue Airways route not published in the area 35,000 ft 486 kts
RPA4774 — route not published in the area 33,000 ft 466 kts
UAL2127 United Airlines route not published in the area 37,025 ft 489 kts
N735AN — route not published in the area 1,700 ft 100 kts
CRE897 — route not published in the area 43,000 ft 390 kts
36.8M
Annual passengers (reference)
6
Runways
2
Terminals
645 ft
Field elevation

About DTW

Delta's main gateway between the US Midwest and Asia, centred on the 1.6-kilometre-long McNamara Terminal. The terminal's express tram and light tunnel are well known to connecting passengers. Six runways give it ample capacity in all weather.

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport opened in 1930 as Wayne County Airport, one of the first airports in America funded by a county bond issue, on farmland southwest of Detroit near Romulus. It served military roles during the Second World War, then gradually captured Detroit's commercial traffic from Willow Run airport during the late 1950s after being renamed Detroit Metropolitan and gaining jet-era terminals in 1958 and 1966.

The pivotal era began when Republic Airlines. After their 1986 merger Northwest Airlines, made Detroit a primary hub, building it into the main gateway between the American Midwest and Asia, with nonstop flights to Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Beijing. The airport's modern signature, the McNamara Terminal, opened in 2002 for Northwest: its Concourse A stretches nearly a mile, one of the longest airport concourses in the world, served by an overhead ExpressTram, a dancing-water fountain.

A psychedelic light tunnel connecting concourses beneath a taxiway. Delta inherited the hub in the 2008 merger and DTW remains one of its largest bases. The North Terminal, opened in 2008 and later renamed the Warren Cleage Evans Terminal, hosts all other carriers.

How DTW operates today

Detroit Metro operates six runways, including four parallel north-south strips that allow simultaneous streams in most weather, making it one of the more delay-resistant big hubs in the US. Delta Air Lines runs the McNamara Terminal (concourses A, B, and C) as a fortress hub and transatlantic-transpacific gateway, complete with the mile-long Concourse A, the ExpressTram.

The color-shifting light tunnel; all other airlines, led by Southwest and American, use the Evans Terminal. The airport is a legacy Asia gateway from Northwest days, retaining nonstops to Tokyo and Seoul. Its Midwest location makes it a reliable connecting alternative to Chicago.

Top routes from DTW

DestinationMain airlinesWhy it matters
Atlanta (ATL) Delta, Spirit The trunk between two of Delta's largest hubs.
Orlando (MCO) Delta, Spirit, Frontier Michigan's biggest leisure pipeline to Florida.
New York (LGA) Delta, Spirit A high-frequency business link between Detroit and Manhattan.
Amsterdam (AMS) Delta, KLM A legacy Northwest-KLM route that remains a joint-venture transatlantic pillar.
Tokyo (HND) Delta Continues Detroit's decades-old role as the Midwest's nonstop gateway to Japan.

Facts about DTW

  • Concourse A in the McNamara Terminal is nearly a mile long, one of the longest airport concourses in the world.
  • A psychedelic, music-synchronized light tunnel runs beneath an active taxiway between concourses.
  • Northwest Airlines built Detroit into the main US Midwest gateway to Japan and Asia, a role Delta maintains today.
  • The McNamara Terminal features a fountain whose choreographed water arcs were designed by the firm behind the Bellagio fountains.

Plane spotting at DTW

The parking decks and hotel windows near the McNamara Terminal give views of Delta's operation, and spotters use roads near the runway 21R/22L approaches in Romulus for arrivals shots. New to spotting? Start with our aircraft identification guide and the world's best spotting airports.

IATA / ICAO
DTW / KDTW
Location
Detroit, United States 42.216, -83.355
Time zone
America/New_York
Opened
1930
Hub for
Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines
Website
www.metroairport.com

Airlines hubbed at DTW

DL · DAL Delta Air Lines United States

Nearby and related airports

Geographically close airports and useful alternatives in United States.

YYZ Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto, Canada MDW Chicago Midway International Airport Chicago, United States IND Indianapolis International Airport Indianapolis, United States ORD O'Hare International Airport Chicago, United States IAD Washington Dulles International Airport Washington, United States BWI Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Baltimore, United States EWR Newark Liberty International Airport Newark, United States LGA LaGuardia Airport New York, United States

More airports and guides connected to DTW

Most of the tails you see here belong to Delta Air Lines. How a field like this runs day to day is covered in how airports work. Nearby, Chicago (MDW) serves the same country. The codes DTW and KDTW 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 DTW

What is the airport code for Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport?

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport uses the IATA code DTW on tickets and baggage tags, and the ICAO code KDTW in flight plans and on radar. The leading “K” in KDTW 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 DTW have?

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport operates 6 runways across 2 passenger terminals. The field sits at 645 ft above sea level.

How busy is DTW?

This reference profile lists roughly 36.8 million annual passengers for Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. You can see aircraft observed departing, arriving and overhead on this page, taken from live ADS-B broadcasts.

Which airlines are based at DTW?

Delta Air Lines treat DTW as a hub or major base. Many other carriers serve the airport without basing aircraft there.

How many terminals does DTW have?

This reference lists Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport with 2 passenger terminals. Check the airport or operating airline for the terminal assigned to a specific flight.

What time zone is DTW in?

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport runs on America/New_York, currently UTC-4. 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 DTW local time - worth remembering when the two disagree by a whole calendar day.

Can I track flights at DTW live?

Yes. The map on this page shows every aircraft broadcasting its position within about 55 km of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and there are 20 in range as this page loaded. The boards split them into departures, arrivals and traffic passing overhead, all timed in America/New_York.