feature story Aviation
Developed as a joint venture between the
City of Fort Worth, the FAA and Hillwood
Development Company, a real estate development
company owned by Ross Perot, Jr., Alliance
Airport is the world’s first 100 percent industrial
airport, designed for air cargo, corporate and
military aviation.
Owned by the City of Fort Worth and managed
by Alliance Air Services, it is approximately 1,200
acres and is the second largest airport facility in
North Texas behind DFW International Airport.
With an FAA Air Traffic Control Tower that is
open 24/7/365, fixed base operator and airport
operations, as well as a runway extension to 11,000
feet underway, Fort Worth Alliance Airport offers
world-class aviation.
“Because Alliance is in our backyard, a lot
of us tend to take a project of this scale for
granted,” said Tom Harris, president of Alliance
Air/Aviation Services for Hillwood Properties,
of this master-planned, mixed-use commercial
development that is anchored by Alliance Airport.
“AllianceTexas is celebrating its 25th year, and
it really is a one-of-a-kind project globally. If
somebody is looking to expand a business or
reconfigure how they operate their business, then
Alliance needs to be on their list, just because it’s
so unique. It’s world-class.”
McKinney National Airport has a 7,002foot runway, on-field U.S. Customs and an
FAA tower with radar monitoring capability, a
24-hour monitored perimeter access control and
24-hour on-site aircraft rescue and firefighting
service, along with full-service fix based operator
and maintenance, so it can handle many of the
largest general aviation aircraft. It is already home
to Texas Instruments, Ag-Power and others.
Monarch Air recently chose McKinney National
as the place to expand its services, which include
aircraft maintenance, flight training and charter
services. Also joining them is First Flight, which
offers fixed wing air ambulances.
Why McKinney Airport? “They choose us
because we sit on a lot of land, and we have a lot of
land around us,” said McKinney Airport Director
Ken Wiegand. “Other airports have run out of
space. We think that’s going to have a dramatic
impact on their decision. We have a clean, secure,
safe airport, and it looks like a real airport.”
McKinney also sits on the edge of Class B
airspace for easy in and out of the Dallas/Fort
Worth airspace. Other airports are deeper into the
airspace, making waiting times longer, and longer
wait times means more fuel burned.
With plenty of green space to build hangars
and offices for future clients, McKinney Airport
Director Ken Wiegand expects expansion
to take off. “We have been preparing for this
growth for about 14 years. We’ve rehabilitated or
reconstructed old concrete infrastructure and built
a new runway that meets federal design standards
and committed 100 percent local funding toward
increasing the width and weight-bearing capacity.”
Addison Airport
Access to rail, runways and highways contributes to
Alliance Airport’s success.
With full cargo handling services, third party
logistics providers (3PL), forwarder and broker
services, on-site U.S. Customs clearance, on-site
centralized examination station, direct aircraft
ramp access, cross-dock capabilities and ramp
parking for multiple wide-body cargo jets – well,
Alliance is ready for just about anything – and
everything is what it sees.
McKinney National Airport
McKinney National Airport just has one
thing to say: location, location, location. With its
convenient location near major highways S.H.
121, U.S. 75 and U.S. 380, and only 30 miles
north of downtown Dallas, it offers access to the
entire North Texas area and serves as a general
aviation reliever airport and home to several major
corporate flight departments. The airport is also
a favorite leisure time destination with golfing,
upscale shopping, wineries and restaurants nearby.
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www.ntc-dfw.org
Winter/Spring 2015
Addison Airport claims to be the “perfect
place for a perfect landing.” And there are a lot of
general and business aviation leaders that agree
with that statement.
Strategically located north of Dallas and Love
Field, Addison Airport not only provides easy
access to several primary business destinations,
but also a 7,200-foot runway to accommodate
larger aircraft. It is home for many North Texas
corporate flight departments and also serves
as a reliever to Dallas Love Field and DFW
International Airport.
And, with the recent installation of a new
engineered material arresting system (EMAS),
Runway 15 will be 611 feet longer and be able to
safely stop aircraft up to and including a Boeing
737 from running off the runway end at speeds up
to 70 knots. The EMAS allows the aircraft landing
gear to sink into a bed of crushable concrete
located at the end of the runway, for an aircraft
involved in a runway overrun. This crushing
motion will slow the aircraft, and in many cases
stop it completely.
“At Addison Airport, we welcome more than
30,000 visiting aircraft each year, arriving from
over 1,500 airports,” said Darci Neuzil, deputy
director of Addison Airport. “In ad