The aviation industry continues to grow in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the latest development at Fort Worth Alliance Airport.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced Feb. 20 plans to construct a $35 million aircraft maintenance facility on 21 acres located on the northeast side of the airport. The facility will total 160,000 square feet of offices, shops and support areas to accommodate up to nine G650 aircraft at one time.

“Having a purpose-built, business aviation-only airport like Alliance was extremely attractive to us,” said Derek Zimmerman, the president of Gulfstream customer support. “In addition, having Tarrant County College here and their new campus that trains new employees and technicians was an attractive partnership.”

Gulfstream will break ground on the new facility in the third quarter of 2020 with an anticipated opening in the fourth quarter of 2021, Zimmerman said.

To operate the Alliance facility, Gulfstream expects to relocate 150-200 jobs from its current operations at Love Field. The Alliance facility will create an additional 50 jobs, Zimmerman said, and Gulfstream Dallas will continue operating at Love Field with roughly half of its current 650 employees.


DFW is home to the second-largest number of aviation jobs in the country, said Bill Burton, the vice president of developer Hillwood, which spearheaded the addition of Gulfstream to the AllianceTexas area.

“Alliance Airport and Alliancetexas are truly an example of what a public-private partnership can be,” Burton said. “We’ve worked very hard to create an environment to attract world-class companies like Gulfstream.”

Within Gulfstream’s new Alliance facility, more than 40,000 square feet will be dedicated to shops and service areas along with 80,000 square feet of hangar space.

“The lifecycle of an airplane is 40 years, and on an annual basis they’ll need to come in for inspections, maintenance or to be upgraded with new technology and features,” Zimmerman said. “We can hopefully attract local employees to the airport, keep them here with great jobs and continue to support customers for years to come.”