The county netted just over 750 jobs in 1989, while Collin, Dallas and Denton counties added thousands, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Two years before that, the county lost nearly 9,000 jobs in 1987.
The airport, then called the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, was the first component to open as part of AllianceTexas, which is celebrating 35 years of operation in December. In that time, the development is estimated to have created more than 66,000 jobs and left a $119.8 billion economic impact on the region, according to an AllianceTexas economic impact report released in 2024. The airport laid the foundation for the rest of the 27,000-acre mixed-use development, Burton said.
“Without the airport, we wouldn’t have had the rest of it,” Burton said. “It brought the infrastructure, it brought the investment, it brought the focus to the area that has now yielded in excess of $3.5 billion of property taxes.”
Perot Field is an industrial airport, meaning it only sees cargo flights and occasional charter flights. Several corporations, including Amazon, FedEx, Gulf Stream and Tarrant County College, have opened locations at Perot Field. Alliance Aviation President Christian Childs said he believes the airport offers an environment that attracts those types of “heavy hitters.” Perot Field is ranked within the top 20 airports across the U.S. for the highest amount of cargo seen each year, Childs said.
Officials from Hillwood and AVX Aircraft held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 29 for AVX’s new 21,000-square-foot headquarters at the airport. AVX Aircraft specializes in testing unmanned aircraft systems for military and commercial purposes.
During the ceremony, AVX President and Chief Operating Officer Kendall Goodman said the new facility gives the company space to continue developing, designing and testing vertical lift technology. Attracting AVX to the airport plays into Alliance Texas’ Mobility Innovation Zone, Burton said. The zone refers to a supply chain ecosystem made up of different components, including the airport, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway intermodal hub and the AllianceTexas Flight Test Center. The zone aims to connect innovative mobility companies with resources and partnerships to commercialize new technologies related to transit.
“I love attracting [AVX Aircraft] up here because that tends to bring new energy, new focus and cavities that will continue to build on itself,” Burton said.
How it happened
The airport opened under a public-private partnership between the Hillwood development company, the city of Fort Worth and the Federal Aviation Administration. The AllianceTexas development has since grown to impact Roanoke, Westlake, Northlake, Denton County, Keller ISD and other entities.
In addition to the 66,198 jobs AllianceTexas is projected to have created, more than 162,000 indirect jobs are estimated to have come from the development as well, according to the economic impact report.
Job creation can indicate location and project sustainability, said Jann Miles, a planner for Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County. In the case of AllianceTexas, Miles said she believes it’s attractive for its ability to move goods anywhere within the North American continent. AllianceTexas has also had a direct impact on the communities it’s located in. The overall development is estimated to have contributed more than $3.8 billion in property taxes to multiple cities, school districts and counties since 1990, according to the economic impact report.
The development was estimated to have a $9.84 billion economic impact on the region in 2023 alone.
For a place like Roanoke, that impact can be seen in its daytime population. The city’s Economic Development Manager Siale Langi said the AllianceTexas development has helped increase the city’s daytime population to 60,000 people a day. Roanoke’s residential population was estimated at 10,798 in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase in daytime population can mean an increase in customers for local businesses in the city, Langi said.
What's next?
Heading into 2025, the airport still has some pre-existing office and hangar space available for leasing, Burton said. The airport also has about 500 acres of land nearby that’s available for development.
Embraer, a commercial jets manufacturer, announced it was expanding to the airport with a new service center in October 2024. The company is expected to begin operations in 2025 within a pre-existing facility, while a new facility is expected to finish construction in 2027. Embraer is expected to bring 250 new aviation jobs to the area.
AllianceTexas wants to continue attracting companies that can take advantage and benefit from the development’s infrastructure, Burton said.
Burton and Childs agreed that it was important to maintain the infrastructure of the airport and surrounding area while attracting new companies to the area.
In paraphrasing AllianceTexas founder H. Ross Perot Sr., Childs said the key to a successful business was to run it with the same vigor and enthusiasm as a 30-year-old.
“As long as we’re able to maintain that level of enthusiasm, not just within Hillwood but also the area [and] the communities, it’ll fulfill everything,” Childs said.
