Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 FAA airport diagram | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | City of Fort Worth | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Fort Worth,Texas,U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | December 14, 1989; 35 years ago (1989-12-14) | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | FedEx Express | ||||||||||||||
| Focus city for | Amazon Air | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 723 ft / 220 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 32°59′25″N097°19′10″W / 32.99028°N 97.31944°W /32.99028; -97.31944 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  AFW/KAFW/AFW Location of airport in Texas Show map of Texas AFW/KAFW/AFW AFW/KAFW/AFW (the United States) Show map of the United States | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Source:Federal Aviation Administration[1] | |||||||||||||||
Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport (IATA:AFW,ICAO:KAFW,FAALID:AFW) is a publicairport 14 miles (23 km) north of thecentral business district ofFort Worth,Texas, United States.[1] The airport is owned by the City of Fort Worth and managed by Alliance Air Services, a subsidiary of Hillwood Development, and is, in size, the second-largest airport facility in North Texas, behind onlyDallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).[2]
The airport is mainly focused on cargo operations, and serves as a southern regional hub forFedEx Express and focus city forAmazon Air. It provides no major commercial passenger airline service, though it does provide general aviation services. It formerly served as a maintenance hub for Fort Worth-basedAmerican Airlines, until thebankruptcy filing and subsequent restructuring of its parentAMR Corporation.
Billed as the world's first purely industrial airport, it was developed in a joint venture between the City of Fort Worth, theFederal Aviation Administration and the Hillwood Development Company, a real estate development company owned byRoss Perot Jr.[2]
The official groundbreaking ceremonies were held in July 1988, and the airport officially opened on December 14, 1989.[3][4]
Alliance Airport was an occasional source of friction between the cities ofDallas and Fort Worth prior to the repeal ofWright Amendment, which imposed long-distance flight restrictions atDallas Love Field after non-compete clauses in the 1968 DFW Concurrent Bond Ordinance signed by Dallas and Fort Worth failed to stopSouthwest Airlines from beginning service from Love. The bond agreement prohibited both cities from offering municipal airport services that are "potentially competitive" with DFW.[5][6] Fort Worth officials long asserted that, unlike Love Field, Alliance is not a direct competitor to DFW as no attempt was ever made to initiate passenger service there and the FedEx and American Airlines bases would never have been located at DFW, instead.[7]
In the early 1990s, factions in Dallas were calling for Wright Amendment restrictions to be lifted to enhance local airline service. On February 21, 1992, Dallas city leaders threatened to block a proposedUS$120 million expansion of Alliance, accusing Fort Worth leaders of undermining support for other local airport projects; Dallas councilman Jerry Bartos, an influential repeal proponent, was accused of trying to make Alliance a negotiating point in his campaign to repeal the Wright Amendment.[8] On February 25, Dallas leaders dropped their objections when it became clear that the planned expansion would not jeopardize federal funding for other local airport projects.[9] On April 8, the city of Fort Worth sued the City of Dallas, accusing Dallas leaders of violating the non-compete clause by scheduling a City Council vote on the Wright Amendment.[10] The 1992 repeal proposal and lawsuit were later dropped after negotiations between the cities, but it was revealed in 1997 that, during a private meeting held on May 11, 1992, influential Fort Worth politicians and civic leaders were seriously concerned that their support for Alliance could give Dallas grounds to countersue Fort Worth for also violating the bond agreement.[6]
In 1993,Russianflag carrierAeroflot proposed opening a cargo base at Alliance as part of a proposedjoint venture with the Perots to expand cargo operations at three airports in Russia. On May 6, 1993, a group of Russian officials negotiating for the proposal arrived at Alliance in anIlyushin Il-96, the first U.S. visit by the new passenger jet.[11]
In 1998, the Wright Amendment issue resurfaced when Fort Worth and American Airlines sued Dallas,Continental Airlines,Continental Express, andLegend Airlines for supporting the Shelby Amendment, which lifted Wright Amendment restrictions on flights toAlabama,Kansas, andMississippi. On October 1, 1998, Legend countersued Fort Worth, accusing the city of a "double standard" in its simultaneous support for Alliance and opposition to expansion at Love. Lead Fort Worth attorney Lee Kelly contested the accusations, saying that "neither passenger service, nor any other service, believed to be competitive with the services or interests of [DFW] currently exists [at Alliance]," while Fort Worth mayor Kenneth Barr dismissed attacks on the all-cargo airport as "a bunch of nonsense."[7] On October 29, 1998, State District Judge Bob McCoy dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that Legend was not a party to the 1968 DFW bond agreement and thus lackedstanding to sue.[12]
Alliance stood in forLos Angeles International Airport during the filming of thepilot episode of the short-lived 2004 TV dramaLAX.[13]
AUS$260 million runway and taxiway extension project was completed in April 2018 to allow heavily loaded cargo aircraft to take off from either runway inhot and high Texas summer weather conditions and reach Europe unrefueled. The project had been under construction since 2003 and required the relocation of nearby sections ofFarm to Market Road 156 and aBNSF Railway line. Runways 16R/34L and 16L/34R were previously 8,200 feet (2,500 m) and 9,600 feet (2,900 m) long, respectively.[14]
In December, 2022, the airport name was changed to Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport in honor ofRoss Perot, Sr.[15]
Fort Worth Alliance Airport covers an area of 1,198 acres (485 ha) and has twoconcreterunways: 16L/34R measuring 11,000 ft × 150 ft (3,353 m × 46 m) and 16R/34L measuring 11,125 ft × 150 ft (3,391 m × 46 m).[1]
For the year ending March 31, 2023,[update] the airport had 109,652 aircraft operations, averaging 300 per day: 61%general aviation, 18%air carrier, 10%military, and 11%air taxi. As of March 31, 2023,[update] there were 22 aircraft based at this airport: 1 single-engine, 5 multi-engine, 8jet and 8helicopter.[1]
| Cargo destinations map |
|---|
 Fort Worth-Alliance
|
.jpg)
American Airlines was previously the largest tenant at the airport, operating a major maintenance base which closed in December 2012 as part of AMR'sChapter 11 reorganization. Current major tenants include:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Actress Heather Locklear will be on to talk about her new NBC airport drama, LAX, which shot its pilot in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (with Alliance Airport impersonating LAX).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromNational Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report.National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved2022-06-08. (FTW92FA107). This article incorporatespublic domain material fromNational Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report.National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved2022-06-08. (FTW01LA068). This article incorporatespublic domain material fromNational Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report.National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved2022-06-08. (CEN11FA359).