Center for Supply Chain Innovation Looks Beyond the Numbers of American Airlines’ DFW Impact
The economic influence of a major airline hub extends well beyond flights, passengers and employees. Measuring that broader footprint requires examining the less visible connections between airline operations, business activity and regional growth.
The Center for Supply Chain Innovation at the TCU Neeley School of Business examined that question through a study of the economic impact of American Airlines’ Dallas-Fort Worth hub across North Texas. The research, which was conducted by the center, applied academic analysis to real-world industry data to assess the airline’s broader influence across the region.
The independent analysis reflects how the Center for Supply Chain Innovation connects research and applied learning with the challenges shaping business and industry. For Travis Tokar, professor of supply chain management and lead researcher on the study, American Airline’s question presented an opportunity to look beyond the most visible measures of the airline’s presence.
“I really enjoy exploring second and third order impacts of different types of businesses, activities, policy decisions, you name it,” Tokar said. “With any major company like this, there are huge impacts that aren't always as visible at first glance.”
The project was initially introduced through a project-based supply chain capstone
course, where students had an opportunity to conduct preliminary research under Tokar’s
guidance. He then continued the broader analysis through the center.
Answering that question required evaluating multiple existing sources rather than relying on a single measure of economic impact. The research drew from The Perryman Group's DFW Airport economic impact framework, American-specific operational data, airport and regional business information, and academic research to examine American Airlines' share of activity across areas including passengers, cargo and employment.
From there, Tokar worked to determine how much of the broader economic activity surrounding DFW could reasonably be connected to American Airlines' presence.
“We took existing economic reports and extrapolated based on what we learned about American Airline's share of business at DFW, the number of passengers they move, how much cargo they handle,” Tokar said.
Some connections were more difficult to quantify. Access to nonstop air service, for example, can factor into decisions about where companies locate or expand, creating economic activity that may be connected to an airline hub but cannot be attributed as directly as passenger or cargo activity. Quantifying those connections required balancing the desire to capture a broader impact with the discipline to avoid claiming more than the evidence could support.
That process of using faculty research expertise to investigate business questions
is central to the applied research the Center for Supply Chain Innovation is working
to advance, said Morgan Swink, executive director of the center.
“Our applied research addresses questions, tools and opportunities that have not been fully understood or developed. Answers don't fully exist,” Swink said.
The American Airlines study offers one example of that approach, bringing faculty expertise and industry data together to examine a complex business question. For Craig Crossland, the John V. Roach Dean of the Neeley School of Business, the project also demonstrates the value of connecting academic expertise with the issues businesses are navigating.
“At Neeley, we believe the strongest ideas emerge when industry and academia work together. Collaborating with organizations like American Airlines allows our faculty to apply their expertise to complex business challenges while ensuring our teaching and research remain grounded in the realities shaping today's marketplace,” Crossland said.
Looking ahead, Swink sees opportunities to expand that work as the center explores emerging challenges around supply chain resilience, artificial intelligence and talent development.