FORT WORTH, TX: December 11, 2018. Fort Worth Alliance Airport (AFW), currently home to FedEx and its Southwest Regional Sort Hub, has been chosen by Amazon to operate a regional air operation for Prime Air.

Expected to be operational next year, the hub is the first of its kind for Amazon Air and will include sortation capability and infrastructure to handle multiple daily flights daily.

Amazon’s investment in the region already includes two fulfillment centres at the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex built by the Perot Development Company.

“We are excited to build a brand new facility from the ground up at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport,” commented Amazon Air director Sarah Rhoads.

“We are pleased to grow our partnership with Amazon here at Alliance,” said Bill Burton, executive vice president at Hillwood, the developer. “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.”

Begun 30 years ago by Ross Perot Jnr. as the world’s first industrial airport designed for air cargo, AFW has been developed by a partnership between the City of Fort Worth, the Federal Aviation Administration and Hillwood, a global real estate company founded by Perot in 1988.

In addition to FedEx, the 26,000-acre site also includes BNSF Railway’s Alliance Intermodal Facility, BNSF and Union Pacific Class I rail lines, and direct access to major highways and interstates. Over the past three decades the airport’s regional economic impact is estimated at US$69 billion including the creation of 48,000 jobs.