American Airlines has signed a new lease at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – the world’s second busiest airport – that will include US$4.8 billion to build a new terminal and renovate one of the five current terminals, airline and airport officials said Tuesday.

The $1.63 billion new Terminal F would include 15 gates. The deal also calls for $2.72 billion to renovate Terminal C and add nine gates in “piers” that will extend from terminals A and C. American will control those gates.

The work is designed to prepare Fort Worth-based American for the expected growth in air travel. DFW ranks only behind only Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the world’s busiest airport.

The sixth terminal at DFW has long been planned but was delayed by the pandemic, which caused air travel to decline sharply for two years. Air travel has recently rebounded roughly to 2019 levels, and in some months, topped pre-pandemic traffic.

American’s new lease and airport-use agreement replaces one that expired in 2020.

American and its American Eagle partners control more than 80% of the airport’s traffic, with runner-ups Spirit Airlines and Delta Air Lines each carrying about 4% of DFW passengers, according to government figures through March.