
A Giant in the Skies
American Airlines, together with its regional partners, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 7,000 flights per day throughout 55 countries. Considered the world’s largest, the 1,500-craft airline is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, operating out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and serving more than 200 million passengers worldwide every year.
Navigating Complexities on the Ground
DFW is American Airlines’ largest hub—plus, it’s the third busiest airport in the world, as measured by total passenger traffic. And American accounts for about 82% of annual commercial passenger traffic in and out of there, operating out of all of DFW’s terminals.
Maintaining that network of incoming and outgoing air traffic can be complicated to say the least, especially as responsibilities shift from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to each individual airline’s own operations center once an airplane is past a certain point. From that point on, each airline is accountable for what happens and how it happens, from routing planes to arrival gates, to troubleshooting sudden issues, to maintaining and monitoring a clear view of all ramp operations.
To do this, American Airlines housed a number of different interconnected departments across DFW airport in the past, including ground, ramp, and passenger operations. For a number of years, while these departments all needed to communicate with each other, they were siloed in various areas of the airport campus. The bulk of the team had almost outgrown their rented space in DFW’s control tower, which all in all, wasn’t the optimal environment to succeed in their mission with a view that simply didn’t allow for American Airlines operators to visualize each and every gate, resulting in blind spots.
“There are a lot of moving parts for our airline that were happening operationally across the airport, and we were working with outdated equipment in a small operations space,” said Luis Santana, DFW Facilities Senior Engineer, American Airlines.

Ultra-Wide Video Wall & Operator Display Solutions for Maximized Situational Awareness

American Airlines made the decision to build a $10 million Hub Control Center (HCC) to act as a virtual tower, a centralized command center to improve overall situational awareness and leverage additional IP cameras fed to a large-scale video wall that gives operators a comprehensive view of ramp operations across all terminals. It’s a strategic investment that also consolidated several functions formerly housed in sporadic areas of the airport. The 10,000-square-foot HCC also includes an open office workspace concept, an emergency command center for critical real-time comms, conference rooms, and employee rest areas.
Santana worked with CTI’s command-and-control specialists on identifying the right kind of video displays and audiovisual equipment across the HCC, the centerpiece of which is an expansive, 24/7-rated video wall with twenty-two (22) 55-inch high-definition flat panel displays in an 11-wide by 2-high array, which provides a clear and detailed real-time view of every gate American operates at DFW, as well as the de-icing stations.
The ultra-wide overview video wall is powered by robust video processing, configured by CTI to allow American Airlines to visualize the right content (integrated mostly from panoramic IP cameras) in a variety of layouts and arrangements based on different scenarios, shifts, workflow demands, and any high-alert contexts that arise for mission-critical, high-priority collaborative decision-making. This state-of-the-art video wall system also enables American Airlines to share that visualized information between different displays, workstations, and throughout the HCC while also extending situational awareness beyond the primary control center.
The main area of the HCC includes operator console workstations for overseeing passenger operations, which involves the coordination of passenger issues such as rebooking missed connections; ramp operations, which is responsible for all ground personnel such as baggage handlers and fueling; resources planning, which determines gate direction and resources needed; and flight service, which coordinates catering. Distributed flat panel displays were integrated at each of these stations with AV-over-IP video distribution, enabling the secure transmission of real-time video data over the network and methodically ingested into the HCC.
Our command-and-control team engineered and integrated the control center solution based on a variety of these unique functionality and information monitoring requirements, along with important technology implementations for the DFW hub’s future state. For instance, American centralized all of these different operational groups at DFW by creating an operations plan to leverage 180-degree IP security cameras, give live views across the entire facility, and force multiply flexibility and ease-of-access to sight lines of direct planes and where they need to be.
Full-Service Control Center Integration: Our Custom Blueprint

Advanced Capabilities for Mission-Critical Operations

What’s more, the Emergency Command Center (ECC) provides crucial capabilities for the HCC operations and leadership teams. Equipped with a bright and intuitive 82-inch interactive display flanked by four 49-inch flat panel displays, the ECC offers real-time visualization of unfolding events and the ability to communicate critical information seamlessly during incidents. Central to this integrated setup is a modular and expandable matrix switcher, selected to reliably interconnect various inputs and outputs from the video wall processor, along with advanced audio and video conferencing capabilities. This powerful combination ensures that the command center remains at the forefront of operational efficiency and control when it matters most—whether that’s to those on the ground or in the sky.
Rounding out American’s AV enhancements in the facility, additional breakout and conference rooms strategically placed around the operational environment are equipped with large-format interactive displays and distributed AV connectivity that allow for real-time interaction with the airline’s global Integrated Operations Center, impromptu team huddles, operational meetings, and collaborative presentations.
Takeoff Success: Enhanced Visualization, Collaborative Ops, Streamlined Control
In total, the HCC creates a more efficient and collaborative space that leverages not only state-of-the-art, but the right visualization and AV capabilities to deliver increased visibility and streamlined communication across departments. Operators within the HCC depend on accurate data that provides airport maps and detailed updates on the status of flights, down to how many passengers board a plane or whether bags have been loaded. They use this information to help direct traffic on the ground, guide arriving aircraft to open gates, help make adjustments if a plane is delayed, and quickly communicate when problems arise to coordinate an effective response.
The overview video wall in the HCC ramp control area was designed to simulate looking out a window and seeing all the gates and planes, which eliminates blind spots for operators across all terminals and gates. This virtual tower leverages additional integrated camera technology to make this possible. “One thing that this video wall is able to provide is scalability,” Santana said. “Our old system was basically a computer-to-screen solution that was limited by the number of screens we had. With our new video wall, we’re able to maximize the canvas and add cameras as needed to deliver a common operational picture for operators.”
Another key benefit of the HCC for American Airlines has been centralizing communication by bringing everyone that has anything to do with operational continuity or effectiveness under one roof. “Everyone is in the same room, seeing the same things and able to make decisions in real time,” said Santana. “Being able to work together is a huge advantage for the team and for the end goal of providing a safe and enjoyable passenger experience.”

It’s the CTI way…
…aiming to give our clients a fantastic experience and ensure they always have what’s needed to accomplish their goals, something Santana echoed when talking about the integration process: “They were a true partner and made sure to explain each outcome when we had a request, answered all of our questions, and guided us through the implementation of the technology for day-to-day operations.”
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