The Dallas Love Field expansion has firmed up into a $2.54 billion rebuild of the city owned airport, with Dallas planning to finance most of the work through general airport revenue bonds. An update presented on 15 June 2026 to a city council committee set the latest price tag and confirmed the bonding strategy for the program, formally titled the Love Field Expansion Airport Program, or LEAP. The initiative bundles fourteen separate infrastructure projects into a single multiyear effort, anchored by a $695.7 million main passenger facility and a $304.8 million concourse. Love Field sits close to downtown Dallas and serves as the primary hub for Southwest Airlines, which accounts for about 98 percent of its passenger traffic and whose use and lease agreement underpins the planned works. The defining constraint is the airport’s cap of 20 gates, a limit the city cannot exceed under a longstanding agreement, so planners are chasing capacity through efficiency rather than new gates. Aviation director Patrick Carreno told the transportation and infrastructure committee the rebuild aims to lift annual capacity to 24 million passengers from about 18 million by reshaping ticketing halls, hold rooms and security chokepoints. The Federal Aviation Administration has essentially approved the underlying master plan, branded Love What’s Next, with final environmental approvals expected in the autumn. As detailed in City of Dallas briefing materials, design package recommendations are due back before the council by January 2027.

How the Dallas Love Field Expansion Fits the Region’s Airport Building Boom

The timing places Love Field inside a wider North Texas airport investment surge. Roughly twenty minutes to the northwest, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is working through its own $9 billion DFW Forward program, which includes the new Terminal F due to open in 2027 and a run of terminal renovations serving the more than 87 million passengers who used DFW in 2024. Even the hospitality stock is being refreshed, with the Grand Hyatt DFW undergoing a $34 million renovation tied to its twentieth anniversary. Against that backdrop, the Love Field expansion is the smaller but more tightly constrained of the two airport programs, because it must add capacity without adding gates or stretching its compact footprint near established Dallas neighbourhoods. The scale of ambition becomes clear when measured against the airport’s own history. Its last major upgrade, the Love Field Modernization Program, cost about $519 million and delivered the current 20 gate terminal, ticketing hall and concourse. At $2.54 billion, LEAP is roughly five times larger and would rank as the biggest capital effort the airport has ever attempted. City officials frame the work as a response to a population boom across the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex that has pushed Love Field well beyond the throughput it was designed to handle, making a reset of its terminal, curbside and baggage systems increasingly urgent.

Dallas Love Field Expansion Timeline, Funding and What Comes Next

The Dallas Love Field expansion now moves from planning into design, with a six year construction programme in view. Carreno told the committee that the city expects to begin enabling work and some demolition by the end of 2027 and reach full construction in 2028. Funding leans on general airport revenue bonds carrying maturities of 20 or 30 years, supplemented by airport capital funds, passenger facility charges and grants, and the city is weighing a refinancing of its existing debt. Love Field carried $434.8 million of revenue bonds outstanding at the close of fiscal 2025, and about $255 million of refunding bonds were last issued in 2021 through the Love Field Airport Modernization Corp, according to municipal disclosure filings. Open questions remain. The financing plan is still being assembled by the city’s treasury and controller’s offices alongside outside advisers, environmental clearances are pending, and local observers expect the rebuild to revive a politically sensitive debate over whether the 20 gate cap should ever be lifted. If delivered on schedule, LEAP would hand one of the country’s busiest close in airports a modern terminal sized for the next two decades of demand.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: Love Field Expansion Airport Program (LEAP), Dallas Love Field
• Location: Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas
• Project Value: Estimated at $2.54 billion, per a June 2026 city council committee update
• Client / Owner: City of Dallas, which owns Dallas Love Field
• Anchor Airline: Southwest Airlines, about 98 percent of passenger volume
• Key Components: 14 projects including a $695.7 million main passenger facility, a $304.8 million concourse, a new terminal headhouse, a concourse widened by about 50 feet, new and remote parking, a consolidated rental car facility and baggage system upgrades
• Procurement Model: City owned program funded largely through general airport revenue bonds, with design and construction phased to keep the airport operating
• Construction Start: Enabling work and demolition targeted for late 2027, full construction in 2028
• Expected Completion: About six years of construction from program start
• Capacity Target: 24 million annual passengers, up from about 18 million, within the existing 20 gate cap
• Funding Sources: General airport revenue bonds with 20 or 30 year maturities, airport capital funds, passenger facility charges and grants
• Strategic Impact: Largest capital program in Love Field’s history, roughly five times the size of the $519 million Love Field Modernization Program

Project Team

• Client / Owner: City of Dallas, through Dallas Love Field
• Anchor Airline: Southwest Airlines
• Bond Issuer: Love Field Airport Modernization Corp
• Federal Regulator: Federal Aviation Administration
• Director of Aviation: Patrick Carreno
• Dallas City Manager: Kimberly Bizor Tolbert
• Main Contractor: Not yet awarded
• Lead Designer: Not yet disclosed

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Dallas Love Field expansion cost? The Dallas Love Field expansion is estimated at $2.54 billion, according to an update presented to a city council committee in June 2026, with most of the cost to be financed through general airport revenue bonds.

What is the Love Field Expansion Airport Program (LEAP)? LEAP is the City of Dallas program that bundles fourteen infrastructure projects, including a new main passenger facility and concourse, into the largest capital rebuild in Dallas Love Field’s history.

When will the Dallas Love Field expansion be completed? Enabling work and demolition are targeted for late 2027 with full construction starting in 2028, and the city has outlined roughly six years of construction for the Dallas Love Field expansion.

Why can’t Dallas Love Field add more gates? Dallas Love Field is held to a cap of 20 gates under a longstanding agreement, so the expansion focuses on moving more passengers through the existing gates rather than building new ones.

Who is paying for the Dallas Love Field expansion? The Dallas Love Field expansion will be funded mainly by general airport revenue bonds, supported by airport capital funds, passenger facility charges and grants, with the bonds repaid from airport revenues.