Amazon taps Fort Worth's Alliance Airport for regional hub, hundreds of jobs

Amazon will open a regional air hub at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, creating hundreds of new jobs with the first airport project of its kind in the Amazon Air network, the company announced Tuesday.

The new facility will be tailored specifically to Amazon Air’s larger-scale regional needs. Unlike other gateways and facilities within Amazon Air’s network, the regional air hub will include sortation capabilities and infrastructure to handle multiple flights daily, the Seattle-based company said.

Construction has already begun on the new facility. The hub is projected to be operational in 2019 and will include daily flights. Show Full Story

“We are excited to build a brand new facility from the ground up at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport,” Sarah Rhoads, director of Amazon Air, said in a prepared statement. “The new facility is the first of its kind for us, and we’re thrilled to ensure we have the capacity to continue to delight our customers.”

Amazon’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) first branded aircraft, Amazon One, took to the skies in 2016. Amazon operates 40 aircraft in its fleet at over 20 air gateways across the country and will open a central air hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Amazon One uses Boeing (NYSE: BA) 767-300s to add capacity to support one- and two-day package delivery in the United States. The fleet allows Amazon to meet its Prime members’ demand for faster shipping.

Bill Burton, executive vice president at Hillwood, the developer of Alliance, said he’s happy to see its partnership with Amazon grow.

“As one of the world’s most influential retail, technology and supply chain logistics companies, Amazon’s selection of Fort Worth Alliance Airport will continue to transform the airport’s role within the region,” he said in a news release.

The industrial- and cargo-focused Alliance Airport is already a home to a large FedEx (NYSE: FDX) shipping operation.

The airport recently completed a $260 million project to extend its runways, allowing for more operations for cargo jets.

Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Hillwood, said that two 11,000-foot runways at the Alliance Airport position it for the overall growth of aviation and even for spaceplanes that operate as aircraft when in Earth's atmosphere and as spacecraft when in space.

“You’ll be taking off from spaceports at Alliance, flying into spaceports in Tokyo, within a couple of hours,” Perot said in a speech earlier this year.

Not that Amazon is headed to space — yet.

U.S. Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Lewisville, applauded Amazon’s decision to expand at Alliance.

“I am glad that Amazon Air selected Fort Worth Alliance Airport for its newest facility," Burgess said in a news release. “As is proved time and again, North Texas is a great place to build a business and we welcome Amazon Air as the newest addition to our community.

Haslet Mayor Bob Golden said he is “very happy and excited to welcome another Amazon facility to our city.”

“Amazon has been an awesome partner, and we look forward to expanding that relationship in the future,” he said.

Amazon, which recently turned down North Texas for its highly publicized HQ2 project, had a strong presence in the region even before the Alliance expansion.

The company has more than 5,000 workers in North Texas. Amazon has three fulfillment facilities in Coppell, one in Haslet, one in southern Dallas and one in Fort Worth.

In addition to fulfillment, Amazon Web Services employs more than 500 people in retail operations, with a large office in the Galleria.

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