Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is the primary

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

serving

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It is located in

Romulus Romulus (, ) was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of th ...

, a Detroit suburb. It is by far Michigan's busiest airport, with ten times as many enplanements and deplanements as the next-busiest,

Gerald R. Ford International Airport Grand Rapids Gerald R. Ford International Airport is a commercial airport in Cascade Township, approximately southeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. The facility is owned by the Kent County Board of Commissioners and managed by ...

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

and more than all other airports in the state combined. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA)

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2017–2021 categorized it as a large hub primary commercial service facility. effective May 15, 2025. The airport covers of land. The airport is a major and second largest hub for

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

and is also a base for

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

. The airport has service to 30 international destinations and service to 39 states across the United States. Operated by the

Wayne County Airport Authority The Wayne County Airport Authority is a governmental entity that operates airports in Metro Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan. The authority operates Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Willow Run Airport. Detroit Metropolitan Airport has maintenance facilities capable of servicing and repairing aircraft as large as the

Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The ''Advanced Series 300'' was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, target ...

. Metro Airport serves the

metropolitan Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the official statistical areas ...

area; the

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, area about south; the

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

area to the west;

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

; and

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...

in Canada. The airport serves over 140 destinations and was named the best large U.S. airport in customer satisfaction by J.D. Power & Associates in 2010, 2019, and 2022.

History

Wayne County began to plan an airport in the western townships of the county as early as 1927. The following year, the county board of commissioners issued a $2 million bond to fund the purchase of of land at the corner of Middlebelt and Wick roads, the northeastern boundary of today's airport. Construction was completed in 1929, and the first landing was on February 22, 1930; Wayne County Airport was dedicated on September 4, 1930. That year, Thompson Aeronautical Corporation, a forerunner of

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

, began service from the airport. From 1931 until 1945, the airport hosted

Michigan Air National Guard The Michigan Air National Guard (MI ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Michigan, United States of America. It is, along with the Michigan Army National Guard, an element of the Michigan National Guard of the larger United States Nationa ...

operations gained by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. It was named Romulus Field during the war; it was then all east of Merriman Road and north of Goddard Road. The intersection of the two runways is still visible at . Wayne County expanded the airport to become Detroit's primary airport. It renamed it Detroit-Wayne Major Airport in 1947, and in the next three years expanded threefold as three more runways were built. In 1949 the airport added runways 3L/21R and 9L/27R, followed by runway 4R/22L in 1950. In 1946-47 most airline traffic moved from the cramped

Detroit City Airport Coleman A. Young International Airport (Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport, formerly Detroit City Airport until 2003) is six miles northeast of downtown Detroit, in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the City of Detroit. The ...

(now Coleman A. Young International Airport) northeast of downtown Detroit to

Willow Run Airport Willow Run Airport is an airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan, Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, Ypsilanti Charter Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, that serves freight, cor ...

over west of the city, and west of Wayne County Airport.

Pan-Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

(1954) and

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the ...

(1956) were the first passenger airlines at Detroit-Wayne Major. In the April 1957 Official Airline Guide they were the only passenger airlines: three Pan Am DC-7Cs each week

FRA Fra is a title of a friar. Fra or FRA may also refer to: Codes * fra, the ISO 639-2 code for the French language * FRA, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code for France * FRA, the IOC country code for France at the Olympics * Framingham station, Amtra ...

–

LHR Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

– SNN–DTW–

ORD Ord or ORD may refer to: Places * Ord of Caithness, landform in north-east Scotland * Ord, Nebraska, US * Ord, Northumberland, England * Muir of Ord, village in Highland, Scotland * Ord, Skye, a place near Tarskavaig * Ord River, Western Austra ...

and back, and one BOAC DC-7C each week LHR– PIK– YUL–DTW–ORD and back (skipping YUL on the return flight). Aerial photographs of DTW from 1949 and 1956 show the airport's expansion. In 1958 the Civil Aviation Administration—now the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—announced the inclusion of Detroit-Wayne in the first group of American airports to receive new long-range radar equipment, enabling the airport to become the first inland airport in the United States certified for jet airliners. Also, in 1958, airport management completed the Leroy C. Smith (South) Terminal and gave the airport its present name. American Airlines moved from Willow Run to Detroit-Wayne in October 1958, followed by

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

, Allegheny, and Delta in the next few months; the other airlines stayed at Willow Run until 1966. Northwest's flights to Minneapolis were DTW's only nonstops west beyond Chicago and Milwaukee until 1966. The first scheduled jets were Delta DC-8s to Miami in late 1959. The North Terminal (later renamed the James M. Davey Terminal) opened in 1966, which was located on the current site of the Evans Terminal. A third terminal, the Michael Berry International Terminal, opened in 1974. The last of its original three parallel runways (3R/21L) was completed in 1976; a new parallel crosswind runway (9R/27L) opened in 1993.

Republic Airlines Republic Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated from 1979 until it merged with Northwest Airlines in 1986. Republic was formed by the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways on July 1, 1979. Their headquar ...

began hub operations in 1984, and its merger with

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

in 1986 expanded the hub. The Northwest hub operated out of the Davey Terminal throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Transpacific flights began in 1987, with Northwest providing nonstop service to Tokyo–Narita. The last of Metro's six runways (4L/22R) was completed in December 2001 in preparation for the opening of the mile-long, 122-gate, $1.2 billion McNamara Terminal in the airport midfield in 2002. The airport remained a hub for Northwest Airlines until it merged with Delta Air Lines. DTW McNamara Terminal South Ramp

The present Runway 3L/21R has had four identifiers. When it opened in 1949, it was Runway 3/21. With the opening of the new west side Runway 3L/21R in 1950, the original 3/21 became 3R/21L. With the opening of the new east side Runway 3R/21L in 1976, it became 3C/21C. With the opening of Runway 4L/22R in December 2001 and the splitting of the field into two sectors (3/21 on the east and 4/22 on the west), Runway 3C/21C became Runway 3L/21R. In 2009, Detroit Metro Airport launched its first

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

efforts with participation in Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube networks. Detroit was a major hub for

from 1986 to 2010; Northwest merged with Delta Air Lines, and Detroit became Delta's second-largest hub. In April 2011

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

launched a unique curbside check-in and baggage check service for premium customers from DTW's North Terminal to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and beyond. Lufthansa became the only airline allowing international customers departing from DTW to check their bags and receive a boarding pass at the curb, while DTW became Lufthansa's first North American gateway with this service. Detroit's economy plunged in the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, causing airlines such as

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

to drop flights to

London–Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and other airlines such as

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

and

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic A ...

to use codeshare flights through

. The city has lost population, but Detroit Metropolitan Airport has since re-grown, and airlines are looking to expand or resume service.

JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub a ...

began flights to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in February 2014.

has grown at DTW, adding service to more East and West Coast cities. Spirit has increased its market share to over 10%, widening the gap as Metro Airport's second largest carrier.

Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Airlines (formerly known as Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines) is the flag carrier of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates scheduled international services over four continents from its main base at ...

was the first airline to schedule the

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...

into Detroit, on December 1, 2014. One of

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...

carriers, Compass Airlines chose to close its operating base in Detroit to move operations to the new Seattle hub in early 2015. Delta has replaced many of the existing Compass flights with mainline Delta flights to allow

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah. SkyWest operates and maintains aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by four partner Mainline (air travel), mainline airlines. The comp ...

and GoJet to open Detroit bases. Beginning in January 2018

Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) is the public transit operator serving the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Beginning operations in 1967 as the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMT ...

, or SMART Bus, began providing a direct connection from the airport to the Rosa Parks Transit Center in

downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a Neighborhoods in Detroit, residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Michigan high ...

via route 261, also known as the Michigan Ave FAST bus, with stations at both the McNamara and Evans terminals. Spirit Airlines Maintenance Hangar at DTW

Spirit Airlines Maintenance Hangar at DTW

On June 26, 2015, Spirit Airlines announced the construction of a new maintenance facility, saying it would bring $31.5 million and 82 jobs to the area. Spirit previously had a hangar that closed, forcing the airline to do maintenance at the gate with contract workers. With the new facility, which opened in May 2017, Spirit will retain its operating base at Metro Airport and bring more flights. Spirit was also the first airline to regularly fly the

A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the enhance ...

in the US, the first route was Detroit to Los Angeles as well as add self-tagging luggage kiosks at DTW. In 2017, WOW Air announced service to

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

on the Airbus A321. This marked the first ever entrance of a modern European low-cost carrier to DTW. In the summer of 2018, Reykjavík went from the 55th most traveled destination to the fifth due to this flight's popularity. Passengers could connect onwards in Reykjavík, boosting travel to European destinations. In March 2019, the airline ceased operations, leaving Metro Airport with no low-cost nonstop to Europe; the airport looked for replacement service to begin in 2020, but due to the COVID pandemic, that effort ceased until 2022, when

Icelandair Icelandair is the flag carrier of Iceland. Linked from here It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from its main airline hub, hub at Keflavík International Airport. Its smaller dom ...

and Delta announced seasonal flights to Reykjavík starting in 2023. Since the Great Recession of 2008, Southeast Michigan has gone through an economic and industrial resurgence leading to several new airlines and services including service by Icelandair, Sun Country, Turkish, and

WestJet WestJet Airlines, is a Canadian airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in 1994, it is the second-largest airline in Canada and the eighth-largest airline in North America by frequency. It began operations in 1996 with 220 employee ...

. In October 2021,

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

announced the intent to serve Detroit. Service began on November 13, 2023. In February 2023, WestJet announced seasonal service to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, later adding seasonal service to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

De-Icing at DTW Airport with departing Delta A321

Facilities

DTW has 2 passenger terminals and 4 concourses with a total of 147 gates.

Edward H. McNamara Terminal

The McNamara Terminal, also once known as the Northwest WorldGateway, opened February 24, 2002. Designed by

SmithGroup SmithGroup is an international architectural, engineering and planning firm. Established in 1853 by architect Sheldon Smith, SmithGroup is the longest continually operating architecture and engineering firm in the United States that is not a w ...

and built by

Hunt Construction Group Hunt Construction Group is an American construction management firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company was formerly known as Huber, Hunt & Nichols was founded in 1944 by Paul B. Hunt, Arber J. Huber and Harry S. Nichols. The firm change ...

, it replaced the aged Davey Terminal. During development, the terminal was known as the Midfield Terminal. The terminal is used exclusively by Delta (which merged with Northwest) and Delta partners Aeromexico,

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

, and

. This terminal has three concourses, A, B, and C, which house 121 gates with shopping and dining in the center of A concourse (known as the Central Link), as well as throughout the concourses. It houses five Delta Sky Clubs located throughout Concourse A, and 1 located in Concourses B and C. At nearly in length, Concourse A in McNamara Terminal is the second-longest airport concourse in the world (the longest is in Terminal 1 of

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport (), commonly known as Kankū (; ), is the primary international airport in the Keihanshin, Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on ...

in Japan). In addition to

moving walkway A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

s spaced along the length of each concourse, Concourse A has a

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

, the

ExpressTram The ExpressTram is an automated people mover system operating at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, in Romulus, Michigan. The driverless system transports passengers along Concourse A of the airport's Edward H. McNamara Terminal, which ...

. It transports passengers between each end of Concourse A in just over three minutes. Trams arrive almost simultaneously at the ''Terminal Station'', in the midpoint of the concourse and depart in opposite directions to the ''North Station'' and the ''South Station'', then return. The McNamara Terminal opened a new baggage sorting facility in October 2008, which has improved the screening of baggage through 14 new explosive detection system devices along a fully automated conveyor system. Northwest Airlines said that it reduced the amount of lost baggage, and it improved the timeliness of bags getting to their correct flight. An

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

Four Star

Westin Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wes ...

hotel is connected to the A concourse. Additionally, overnight guests at the hotel who are not flying can obtain a pass to enter the concourses to visit shops and restaurants. Called the ''Airport Access Authorization to Commercial Establishments Beyond the Screen Checkpoint'' (AAACE), registered guests must be cleared through the same security background check (

Secure Flight Secure Flight is a passenger pre-Airport security, screening program for flights in the United States, managed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It is a risk-based system that matches passenger information against watch lists m ...

) and TSA screening process as travelers to access the terminal area.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartere ...

is the only other airport participating in this program. The A concourse houses 78 gates with 12 gates used for international departures and arrivals processing. The A concourse is intended for all aircraft. At the midpoint of the concourse is a large, laminar flow water feature designed by WET. The concourse contains over of moving walkways. The A concourse also includes a pet relief area for passengers traveling with pets and service animals. Signage through the terminal is in English, along with Japanese, due to a large number of business travelers from Japan. Izumi Suzuki, a Sheraton employee, and several colleagues provided the Japanese translations used by the airport. In previous eras many Japanese travelers going through Detroit missed connections due to a lack of English comprehension. Also, messages reminding travelers to configure watches to the

Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...

regularly broadcast through the

public address system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

are said in English, Japanese, and Mandarin. In addition to the ticketing level, there's an additional ticketing and security area for passengers using the parking structures. The terminal houses ten international gates that are capable of dual

jet bridge A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

loading and unloading. The gates contain two exit configurations depending on the arriving flight. Domestic arrivals follow an upper path directly into the terminal, while international arrivals proceed downstairs to customs and immigration screening. The Customs and Border Protection processing center located in the terminal's lower level is designed to accommodate as many as 3,200 passengers per hour. International arriving passengers connecting to another flight are screened by TSA at a dedicated screening checkpoint within the international arrivals facility. Those passengers then exit directly back into the center of the A concourse. Passengers arriving from international destinations who end their trip in Detroit (or connecting to a flight via Evans Terminal) exit directly into a dedicated International Arrivals Hall on the lower level of the terminal. The B and C concourses currently have 41 gates that are used for Delta's regional flights that employ smaller aircraft. All regional flights have

s, eliminating the need for outdoor boarding. The B and C concourses are connected to the main terminal building and the A concourse by a pedestrian walkway under the

airport ramp The airport apron, apron, flight line, or ramp is the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded, or maintained. Although the use of the apron is covered by regulations, such as lighting on vehicles, it ...

. This walkway, known as the ''Light Tunnel'', features an elaborate multi-colored light show behind sculpted glass panels extending the entire length of the walkway, as well as several

moving walkways A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

. The light patterns are synchronized with an original musical score composed by Victor Alexeeff, which runs for nearly 30 minutes before repeating. This installation, one of the first large-scale uses of color-changing

LED light An LED lamp or LED light is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more Electrical efficiency, energy-efficient than equivalent Incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamps and f ...

ing in the United States, was produced by Mills James Productions with glasswork by Foxfire Glass Works of

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, Pontiac is part of the Metro Detroit, Detroit metropolitan area, and is vari ...

. The display won multiple lighting design awards, including the prestigious Guth Award of Merit. For passengers prone to medical conditions such as seizures, buttons at each end of the tunnel will suspend the light show for five minutes so they can pass through with no adverse effects. The terminal has undergone updates that include new electronic terminal directories to assist passengers better. A unique feature of this is that passengers can scan their boarding passes, and the screen will direct them to the gate from which their plane departs. The passenger can also choose to view the information in other languages. Passengers may select a restaurant on the touch screen, and a menu will show what items the restaurant serves. Mini tablet devices and phone/tablet apps have been installed in food court areas, where travelers may order food and have it delivered to their table. There are five Delta Sky Clubs located in the McNamara terminal. The largest is located above the central link across from gate A38. Next to that, across from gate A43, houses a smaller Sky Club. There are two satellite Sky Clubs in Concourse A located on the upper level near gates A18 and A68, across from their respective ExpressTram stations. An additional Sky Club is located in Concourse C, at gate level near the entrance to Concourse C. This lounge services Delta Connection flights in concourses B & C.

Warren Cleage Evans Terminal

The Evans Terminal, formerly known as the North Terminal, was designed by

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is the largest architecture firm in the world by revenue and number of architects. In 2022, Gensler generated $1.785 billion in revenue, the most o ...

and built by Walbridge/Barton Malow Joint Venture, opened September 17, 2008, as the replacement for the aged Berry and Smith terminals, which housed all non-

SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, after Star Alliance and Oneworld. Its annual passenger count is 624 million customers (2024), the second ...

airlines. It used to be known as the North Terminal until it was renamed on April 4, 2022. Initially,

Wayne County Airport Authority The Wayne County Airport Authority is a governmental entity that operates airports in Metro Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan. The authority operates Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Willow Run Airport.naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

of the North Terminal. After two years with no successful offers, however, the effort ceased and the ''North Terminal'' name remained. The terminal currently houses all non-SkyTeam airlines serving the airport and is considered D Concourse. (Concourses A, B, and C are housed in the McNamara Terminal) The concourse has 29 gates, two of which opened in the middle of 2009 to accommodate international wide-body aircraft, and three of which were added to the north end of the concourse in 2022. The two gates were unusable at the building's opening because they were extremely close to Smith Terminal's C concourse, which was demolished after operations moved to the new facility. The terminal features four long segments of moving walkways on the departures level and another moving walkway on the lower level, for international arriving passengers to access the Federal Inspection Services area. Airlines that utilize the North Terminal include

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, American Eagle,

Frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

, Spirit, Sun Country, Turkish,

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

United Express United Express is a regional airline network that supports United Airlines operations, primarily by serving smaller cities and connecting traffic to United's main hubs. Representing six percent of United's total capacity for 2024, United Express ...

, and all non-

and non-Delta partner charters. The Evans Terminal houses two six-lane security checkpoints. The terminal also has U.S. Customs & Border Protection inspection facilities located on the lower level for arriving international flights. This terminal includes a brand new service pet relief area to accommodate passengers traveling with pets. The Evans Terminal has five common-use domestic baggage carousels on the lower level. Two additional carousels are located inside the Federal Inspection Services area for international flights, and a central Oversize Baggage Claim is adjacent to both the international and domestic carousel areas. On January 29, 2010, the Evans Terminal was named winner of the "Build Michigan" award project. The Evans Terminal is home to a Lufthansa Business and Senator Lounge located between Gates D7 and D8. This lounge is accessible to passengers flying in Lufthansa premium cabins as well as select Lufthansa and Star Alliance elite members. This lounge also grants access to Priority Pass members outside of peak hours.

Historical terminals

Michael Berry Terminal

The Berry Terminal, named for a former airport commissioner, was designed by Detroit architect Louis G. Redstone, and opened in 1974 as the international terminal at DTW. It was decommissioned on September 17, 2008, and replaced by the Evans Terminal; however, the airport authority voted May 20, 2009, to renovate the terminal to house its offices. All international passengers would arrive at this terminal, pass through customs and immigration inspection, and continue on to their connecting flights by bus to adjacent terminals. Originally containing six gates (two of which were removed in 2003 to allow for construction of an adjacent Northwest Airlines maintenance hangar), the terminal was later used for scheduled and charter flights. There were still several international scheduled flights on low cost carriers to destinations in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and other warm-weathered places in the early 2000s (decade), including flights from

Champion Air Champion Air was an airline based in Bloomington, Minnesota, USA. It primarily operated air charter services for sports teams, vacation wholesalers, and government agencies. It also offered limited scheduled service. Its main base was Minneapol ...

Ryan International Airlines Ryan International Airlines, Inc. was an American FAR 121 airline with domestic, flag, and supplemental authority. Synopsis and history Based at Chicago Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Illinois, the US Postal Service was once the ...

, and

USA3000 Airlines Brendan Airways, LLC, doing business as USA3000 Airlines, was a U.S. airline headquartered in Newtown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It operated both scheduled and charter service with a fleet of five Airbus A320 aircraft. The airline ...

. Four charter airlines also used this terminal. Following its closure in 2008, the Berry Terminal became a popular space for commercial film and television production. Films such as Up in the Air (2009),

Machine Gun Preacher ''Machine Gun Preacher'' is a 2011 American biographical action drama film directed by Marc Forster and starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Shannon. It tells the story of Sam Childers, a former gang biker turned preacher, ...

(2011), and This Must Be the Place used the vacant terminal as a set (in addition to shooting in and around the airport's active terminals). The Berry Terminal was demolished in 2018.

L. C. Smith Terminal

The Smith Terminal, named for Detroit-Wayne Major airport visionary Leroy C. Smith, was built in 1958. Though cited as the oldest of Metro Airport's terminals, that designation belongs to the ''Executive Terminal'' building located near Middlebelt Road and Lucas Drive, one-quarter-mile east. The Executive Terminal was built in the late 1920s and is still in operation today as home to ASIG, a flight support company. The Smith Terminal's thirty-two gates originally housed Northwest Orient Airlines,

Allegheny Airlines Allegheny Airlines was a local service carrier that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979, with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S. It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which i ...

(forerunner to

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

, and

, among others. A control tower was included in the construction, and served its purpose until the late 1980s, when a new control tower was built near the site of the new McNamara Terminal. In later years, Smith Terminal hosted North American airlines other than Northwest, Continental, and later Delta, which relocated to the McNamara Terminal in 2002 before its merger with Northwest. State of the art for its time, the Smith Terminal eventually became victim to airline expansion. The design of the building did not allow for physical expansion of the ticketing area. To accommodate additional airlines, ticketing counters were constructed on the sides of the lobby in areas that previously held lounges and retail. In contrast, the North Terminal was constructed with future expansion in mind.

, which operated out of many of the gates once used by Northwest, made few upgrades to the gate areas in those parts of the terminal. The Northwest Airlines display boards near check-in counters at each gate remained in place, with the Northwest logos removed, and a Spirit information board simply affixed over the old signage. On September 10, 2008, ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

'' reported that Smith Terminal itself will not be demolished due to the airport authority offices remaining on the upper floors. However, the

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

of October 9, 2008, stated that maintaining the terminal in its present condition would cost upwards of $4 million annually in utilities, a sore spot for airlines at DTW who foot the bill, in part, through airport landing fees; the airlines were hoping for a greater cost savings once the Smith and Berry Terminals were decommissioned. On May 20, 2009, the airport authority formally voted to totally vacate the Smith Terminal, while retaining and renovating the Berry Terminal for its offices. Discussions were also raised regarding proposed construction of a new structure to house the Airport Authority offices and Airport Police, with a preliminary price tag of $31.5 million.

James M. Davey Terminal

The Davey Terminal was built in 1966 and was first known as "Terminal 2" or the "North Terminal". Designed by the firm of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, it was said to be the largest post tensioned building in the world. Tapering cruciform columns around the perimeter and curved beams supported five large concrete roof panels. The lack of columns allowed maximum flexibility in the interior space. The spaces between the roof panels and exterior columns were filled with glass to allow abundant natural light into the building. It was renamed the "J. M. Davey Terminal" in 1975 in honor of former airport manager James M. Davey. It originally contained three concourses labeled C to E, as well as a Host Hotel which later was rebranded Marriott. In the early 1980s, a separate ticketing area was constructed to the north of the Davey Terminal, along with Concourses F and G to eventually accommodate

' regional jet fleet. Over time, the terminal and added concourse began showing its age due to its layout and poor maintenance, hastened further by increased aircraft traffic, which it was not designed to handle efficiently. Despite this, more gates were added to Concourse C in a short-term expansion project in the early 1990s, making it 26 gates in length. This concourse was considered the worst by most travelers due to its long distance from the center of the terminal, and for its length. The Davey Terminal was originally the principal base of operations for

, which merged with Northwest Orient Airlines to become

in 1986. Upon relocation of Northwest operations to the McNamara Terminal, the Davey Terminal was mothballed for three years before demolition of the ticketing area and Concourse G began October 17, 2005, to prepare for the North Terminal project. All concourses of the Davey Terminal and adjoining Marriott hotel, except gates 1 to 11 of Concourse C, were subsequently demolished in 2005–06 (the remaining gates were in use by

until the new North Terminal (now Evans Terminal) opened on September 17, 2008).

Ground transportation

The airport is accessible from I-94 via Merriman Road (exit 198), which is the nearest entrance to the Evans Terminal, and from

I-275 Interstate 275 (I-275) may refer to: *Interstate 275 (Ohio–Indiana–Kentucky), a full beltway around Cincinnati, OH; Covington, KY; Lawrenceburg, IN - construction started in 1968 *Interstate 275 (Florida), a loop through Tampa, St. Petersburg, ...

via Eureka Road (exit 15), which is closer to the McNamara Terminal. Both entrances and the terminals are connected by John D. Dingell Drive, an expressway completed in 1999 and named after the longtime Congressman. Cell phone lots are located near both entrances. Free shuttle buses are available between the two terminals, and also connect to the Green parking lots. Rental car companies provide their own shuttles, as do private offsite parking lots and most hotels in the airport's vicinity.

Public transit

Metro Airport is accessible by public transit, served by the

RTA RTA may refer to: Media * Radio and Television Arts, program at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada * Radio Television Afghanistan ** RTA TV, an Afghan channel * Radiodiffusion Télévision Algérienne * Real time attack, a game speedrun Sci ...

's Detroit Air Xpress (DAX), an express bus to downtown Detroit; and

SMART ''SMart'' was a British CBBC television programme based on art, which began in 1994 and ended in 2009. The programme was recorded at BBC Television Centre in London. Previously it had been recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingha ...

's FAST Michigan, a

limited-stop In public transit, particularly bus, tram, or train transportation, a limited-stop (or sometimes referred to as semi-fast) service is a trip pattern that stops less frequently than a local service. Many limited-stop or semi-fast services are a co ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

route connecting the airport to Detroit and Dearborn, with connections to the region's wider transit network. Two local bus routes, operated by SMART, also serve the airport: route 125, to communities in the

Downriver Downriver is a region of the Detroit metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan covering 18 municipalities in Wayne County, south of Detroit, along the western shore of the Detroit River. Etymology The name derives from the fact that the ...

region of southern Wayne County, serving both terminals; and route 280, to downtown Romulus and other suburbs in western Wayne County, serving only the Evans Terminal. Transit to

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, and

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

is available with the

Michigan Flyer Indian Trails is an intercity bus operator primarily serving the U.S. state of Michigan, with routes also serving Wisconsin and Minnesota. Indian Trails is based in Owosso, Michigan, with offices in Romulus, East Lansing, and Kalamazoo. Hist ...

, an

intercity bus An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...

operated by

Indian Trails Indian Trails is an intercity bus operator primarily serving the U.S. state of Michigan, with routes also serving Wisconsin and Minnesota. Indian Trails is based in Owosso, Michigan, with offices in Romulus, East Lansing, and Kalamazoo. His ...

in partnership with

TheRide The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), branded as TheRide, is the public transport, public transit system serving the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ypsilanti area in the U.S. state of Michigan. In fiscal ye ...

. Service to destinations in southern Ontario, Canada, including

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, is offered by Robert Q Airbus, a private operator. Transit buses board from the Ground Transportation Center at the Evans Terminal, and from the departures drop-off area at McNamara.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

Annual traffic

Accidents and incidents

* December 30, 1963, a Zantop Air Transport

C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company ...

with 4 occupants crashed 2.2 miles SW of DTW, killing all aboard. A loss of control during a night instrument approach in adverse weather was the probable cause. * June 12, 1972, after a stopover in Detroit,

American Airlines Flight 96 American Airlines Flight 96 (AA96/AAL96) was a regular domestic flight operated by American Airlines from Los Angeles to New York via Detroit and Buffalo. On June 12, 1972, after takeoff from Detroit, Michigan, the left rear cargo door of the ...

, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 with 56 passengers and 11 crew from

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...

en route to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, suffered a cargo door failure and explosive decompression shortly after departure from Detroit Metropolitan Airport while flying over

. It is thus sometimes referred to as the Windsor incident. The aircraft sustained damage that left the pilots without full flight controls but the plane returned to Detroit for a successful emergency landing. There were no fatalities but several serious to minor injuries. * July 31, 1972, Delta Air Lines Flight 841; members of the

Black Liberation Army The Black Liberation Army (BLA) was an underground Marxist–Leninist, black-nationalist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981. Composed of former Black Panthers (BPP) and Republic of New Afrika (RNA) mem ...

took over the airplane in flight using weapons smuggled on board, including a Bible, cut out to hold a handgun. The plane held seven crew and 94 passengers, none of whom was killed during the hijacking. Five hijackers who had boarded with three children took over the plane. The plane flew to Miami, where the passengers were exchanged for $1 million in ransom. The plane was then flown on to Boston, where it refueled before flying to Algeria. Algeria seized the plane and ransom, which they returned to the U.S., but the hijackers were released after a few days. * December 15, 1972, a

Zantop International Airlines Zantop International Airlines, Inc. was a United States charter operator, originally uncertificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US air transport. ZIA escape ...

Learjet 23 The Learjet 23 (originally Lear Jet 23) is an American six-to-eight-seat (two crew and four to six passengers) twinjet, high-speed business jet manufactured by Learjet. Introduced in 1964, it was Learjet's first model and created a new market ...

, a ferry flight, crashed after failing to climb from runway 3R, hitting a fuel storage tank. Both occupants on board and one on the ground were killed. Cause undetermined. * January 19, 1979, a

Learjet 25 The Learjet 25 is an American ten-seat (two crew and eight passengers), twin-engine, high-speed business jet aircraft manufactured by Learjet. It is a stretched version of the Learjet 24. Development The first Model 25 flew on August 12, 19 ...

operated by

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved to Beauvais in 2003 when ...

rolled violently and crashed on approach to runway 09. The probable causes were icing, wake vortex by a preceding

McDonnell Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell ...

and a delayed application of engine thrust during an attempted go-around. All six occupants (two crew, four passengers) were killed. *On April 4, 1979,

TWA Flight 841 (1979) TWA Flight 841 was a scheduled passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, en route to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On the evening of April 4, 1979, while flying over Sa ...

went into a dive above

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in Saginaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 44,202 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township, ...

. The flight made an emergency landing at DTW. * January 11, 1983,

United Airlines Flight 2885 United Airlines Flight 2885 was a scheduled cargo flight from Cleveland to Los Angeles, with stopover in Detroit. On January 11, 1983, a DC-8 operating as Flight 2885 crashed after take-off from Detroit, killing all three crew members. The Nation ...

, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8F cargo flight with 3 occupants aboard crashed after takeoff due to a mistrimmed stabilizer causing a loss of control, all on board were killed. * March 4, 1987, Northwest Airlink Flight 2268, operated by Fischer Brothers Aviation, a

CASA 212 The CASA C-212 Aviocar is a turboprop-powered STOL medium cargo aircraft designed and built by Spanish aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). It is designed for use by both civil and military operators. The C-212 was d ...

was on a scheduled flight from

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

to Detroit with an intermediate stop in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

when it crashed while landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The plane yawed violently to the left about above the runway, skidded to the right, hit three ground support vehicles in front of Concourse F, and caught fire. Of 19 occupants onboard (16 passengers and three crew), nine were killed. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error. * August 16, 1987, a

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

operating as

Northwest Airlines Flight 255 On August 16, 1987, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80#MD-82, McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm Eastern Time Zone, EDT (00:46 UTC Augu ...

, bound for

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, crashed on take-off from Metro's Runway 3 Center (Now Runway 3L). All but one passenger on the aircraft were killed; the lone survivor was a young girl, Cecelia Cichan, who lost both of her parents and her brother. The NTSB determined that the accident resulted from flight crew's failure to deploy the aircraft's flaps prior to take-off, resulting in a lack of necessary lift. The aircraft slammed into an overpass bridge on I-94 just northeast of the departure end of the runway. * December 3, 1990, a

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell Ai ...

operating as

Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 Year 1482 ( MCDLXXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * January 19 – A Portuguese fleet, commanded by Diogo de Azambuja, arrives at the mouth of the River Benya on the Gol ...

, bound for

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, collided with a Boeing 727-200 Adv. operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 299, bound for

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

, on runway 03C. Seven passengers and a flight attendant on Flight 1482 were killed. The cause of the accident is listed as "pilot error". * January 9, 1997, an

Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger regional airliner, commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as ...

aircraft operating as

Comair Flight 3272 Comair Flight 3272 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Comair (United States), Comair from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Cincinnati International Airport in Kentucky to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Mic ...

crashed nose down from the airport while on approach into Detroit. All 26 passengers and 3 crew members were killed. The cause is listed to be the "FAA's failure to establish adequate aircraft certification standards for flight in icing conditions, the FAA's failure to ensure that an FAA/CTA-approved procedure for the accident airplane's deice system operation was implemented by U.S.-based air carriers, and the FAA's failure to require the establishment of adequate minimum airspeeds for icing conditions." *March 17, 2001, an

Airbus A320-200 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 985 bound for

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, prematurely rotated during takeoff from runway 3C. The captain aborted the takeoff, and the aircraft skidded off the runway. All 151 occupants survived. The cause of the accident was the captain's delayed rejection of the takeoff, and the flight crew had incorrectly set the trim of the horizontal stabilizer. *December 25, 2009,

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

national

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (; also known as Umar Abdul Mutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born 22 December 1986) popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber", is a Nigerian terrorist who attempted to detonate plastic exp ...

attempted to detonate an explosive device on

Northwest Airlines Flight 253 The attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 occurred on December 25, 2009, aboard an Airbus A330 as it prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterd ...

, an

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

to Detroit as the plane was approaching Detroit. The device failed to go off correctly, and the suspect suffered burns to his lower body. Three other passengers had minor injuries. The White House said it considered the incident an attempted terrorist attack.

Notes

References

External links

*
Wayne County-Detroit Metro Airport History

Detroit Spotters
* *
Preferred Development Plan
{{Authority control 1930 establishments in Michigan Airports established in 1930 Economy of Metro Detroit Airports in Wayne County, Michigan Economy of Detroit Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Michigan Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in North America Romulus, Michigan John Dingell

History

Facilities

Edward H. McNamara Terminal

Warren Cleage Evans Terminal

Historical terminals

Michael Berry Terminal

L. C. Smith Terminal

James M. Davey Terminal

Ground transportation

Public transit

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

Annual traffic

Accidents and incidents

See also

Notes

References

External links