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Alliance Airport Lands Grant For Amazon Air Hub

Associated Press
Visitors walk past an Boeing 737-800 BCF Amazon "Prime Air" cargo plane at Paris Air Show in June.

Fort Worth Alliance Airport is getting financial help to build a taxiway extension that will help Amazon’s new regional air hub.

Alliance Airport is getting a $5.5 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. The money will help finance the new taxiway, the path that connects airplanes between runways and other parts of the airport.

"[The] announcement is another example of how Fort Worth Alliance Airport continues to demonstrate the success of one of this country’s extraordinary public-private partnerships," said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth.

Amazon’s new hub at Alliance, which is already under construction, will support the online retailer's cargo aircraft, Amazon Air. Unlike other gateways and facilities in Amazon Air’s network, the Alliance regional air hub will include sorting capabilities and infrastructure to handle multiple flights daily. It's designed to speed up deliveries to customers.

Amazon has been expanding its delivery business by using its own air cargo fleet. It plans to open other air facilities around the country. Last month, FedEx announced it wouldn’t be renewing its contact with Amazon.

Stella M. Chávez is KERA’s immigration/demographics reporter/blogger. Her journalism roots run deep: She spent a decade and a half in newspapers – including seven years at The Dallas Morning News, where she covered education and won the Livingston Award for National Reporting, which is given annually to the best journalists across the country under age 35.