Welcome to the ZFW NATCA Local website. Air Traffic Controllers at the Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZFW), which began operations at our present location in March 1962, direct aircraft flying in a 147,000-square-mile area that covers portions of five states (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico).

On any given day, more than 87,000 flights are in the skies above the United States. At any given moment, roughly 5,000 planes are in the skies above the U.S. Only one-third are commercial carriers, like American, United or Southwest, the rest being general aviation, air taxis, military aircraft, cargo planes, helicopters, etc. America's sophisticated air traffic control system handles more than half of the world's air traffic and cargo. The men and women who make up our national air traffic control workforce ensure the safety of nearly 600 million aviation passengers per year.