Gulfstream, jet maker for the rich and famous, shrinks in Dallas, grows in Fort Worth
One of the world’s best-known business jet manufacturers plans to move 150 to 200 jobs out of Dallas Love Field and into Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport.
Officials from Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. on Thursday announced the plans to build a large, regional service center at Alliance Airport. Ground is expected to break on the project later this year and be completed by late 2021.
“The life cycle of an airplane is 40 years, so over a period of time on an annual basis or every couple of years they’ll need to come in for inspection and maintenance,” Derek Zimmerman, Gulfstream president of customer support, said after the announcement inside an Alliance Airport hangar.
The new facility likely will become a routine stop for Gulfstream airplanes based all around North, Central and South America, he said. Zimmerman added that, while the company is happy with its maintenance space at Love Field, it needed room to grow at an airport that caters more to business jets, and less to fixed-route commercial air travel.
“People here (working at Gulfstream) will be technical, primarily,” Zimmerman said. “There will be range of mechanical services and high-tech avionics. They’ll have a lot of craftsmanship skills for working on interior things like paint, cabinetry and finish and structure work.”
The company is not closing its Love Field service center but will downsize it, he said. In addition to bringing over 150 to 200 Dallas workers, Gulfstream also expects to hire roughly 50 additional new employees at Alliance Airport.
A plethora of North Texas dignitaries attended an announcement of Gulfstream’s plans on Thursday inside an Alliance Airport hangar.
The agreement to move to Fort Worth still must be approved by the board of directors for Gulfstream’s parent company, General Dynamics. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is based in Savannah, Ga.
The deal comes after nearly four years of negotiations with the city, Tarrant and Denton counties (since Alliance Airport straddles the county line) and Hillwood real estate development company, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said. Hillwood built Alliance Airport in the 1980s, and still manages thousands of acres of commercial and industrial property surrounding the air field.
Price said the city was thrilled that both airports under consideration by Gulfstream for the expansion project were in Fort Worth. She didn’t identify the city airport other than Alliance Airport that was involved in the negotiations.
No subsidies will be requested of local government, other than assistance training its work force in aviation-related trades, Zimmerman said.
“The story of Alliance airfield is the story of American aviation, and Hillwood and Gulfstream are a big part of that history,” Congresswoman Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, told a crowd of about 200 people attending the announcement event.
The new Gulfstream facility will be about 160,000 square feet — a little smaller than a typical Walmart Supercenter — and will be built on 21 acres on the airport’s northeast end, officials said. The facility will include a wheel and brake shop, a tool crib, sheet metal and avionics work spaces and ample room for business offices.
Total cost of construction is expected to be about $35 million.
Also attending the event Thursday were representatives of Tarrant County College’s Erma C. Johnson Hadley Northwest Campus Center of Excellence for Aviation, Logistics and Transportation. The college operates a federally-approved maintenance program at Alliance Airport.
This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 12:53 PM.
