Detroit Metropolitan Airport
airport near Detroit, Michigan, United States
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (IATA: DTW, ICAO: KDTW, FAA LID: DTW) is a major international airport serving Detroit and the surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. Operated by the Wayne County Airport Authority, it is located approximately 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Detroit city center, in Romulus, a suburb of Detroit. It is by far Michigan's busiest airport, with about 8 times as many enplanements and deplanements as the next busiest, Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, and more than all other airports in the state combined.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a large hub primary commercial service facility. The airport covers 4,850 acres (1,960 ha) of land.
The airport is the second-largest hub for Delta Air Lines. The airport has service to 30 international destinations and to 43 states across the United States. The airport has six runways, two terminals, and 129 in-service gates. Detroit Metropolitan Airport has maintenance facilities capable of servicing and repairing aircraft as large as the Boeing 747-400.
Metro Airport serves the metropolitan Detroit area; the Toledo, Ohio, area about 40 miles (64 km) south; the Ann Arbor area to the west; Windsor, Ontario; and Southwestern Ontario in Canada.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Detroit Metropolitan Airport” is airport near Detroit, Michigan, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Detroit, Metropolitan and Airport, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “airport near Detroit, Michigan, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q652505. VIAF identifies the subject as 158324857. The Library of Congress control number is n84081718. Authority coordinates are 42.212, -83.353. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017 and 2021.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Detroit Metropolitan Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Detroit Metropolitan Airport primary sources, Detroit Metropolitan Airport archive and Detroit research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Detroit Metropolitan Airport”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Detroit Metropolitan Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.