Fort Worth Alliance Airport, the world’s first industrial airport designed for cargo and corporate aviation traffic, has completed its highly anticipated runway extension project at the north end of the airport. Situated at the heart of the 26,000-acre AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth, the milestone will support continued growth and increased utilization of air cargo services at one of the most successful public-private partnerships in the nation.

Fort Worth Alliance Airport anchors AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre, master-planned community in north Fort Worth. It is an integral component of the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, which also includes BNSF Railway’s Alliance Intermodal Facility, the FedEx Southwest Regional Sort Hub, access to Class I BNSF and UP rail lines and close proximity to the Interstate Highway 35W corridor from Mexico to Canada. Many other companies utilizing the airport benefit from corporate-general aviation and global logistics services, aviation manufacturing, maintenance, training and workforce development. Created through a public-private partnership, Fort Worth Alliance Airport is located among the second-highest concentration of aviation and aerospace companies and suppliers in the nation.

Through the project, Fort Worth Alliance Airport expanded runways 16R/34L, 16L/34R and Taxiway A at the north end of the property from their previous lengths of 8,200 and 9,600 feet to 11,000 feet. By doing so, the project increased air cargo capacity by providing greater flight capabilities. The expansion will also enable long-haul flights to take off with a full load of cargo and fully fueled under almost any weather conditions. At present, many of the airport’s 125,000 annual flight operations are composed of cargo for users of the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, which include the FedEx Southwest Regional Sort Hub and a number of air cargo charter operations.

“The runway extension project is one of most complex airport improvement projects to ever be undertaken by the Federal Aviation Administration,” said Tom Harris, president of Alliance Air Services.

In addition to expanding the runways, the project involved relocating a portion of a state highway and rerouting part of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) main line track. Planning for the project began in 1992.

Preparation of the site began in 2003, which required the leveling of the site with more than four-million cubic yards of fill. More than 1.2 million cubic yards of materials were imported specifically for the runway. Construction on the runway project proceeded in 2015, with the first runway being completed in March 2017, and the second runway being completed in March 2018.

Funding for the project was supported by the FAA, the Texas Department of Transportation, Tarrant County, and the City of Fort Worth. Alliance Air Services, the contract manager for the City of Fort Worth-owned airport, has overseen the project since inception. Jacobs Engineering provided project management services overall, and Virginia-based Lane Construction was the general contractor on the runway extension component.