Gulfstream is expanding its operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area with the construction of a service centre at Fort Worth Alliance airport. The facility, which will complement the OEM's presence at Dallas Love Field, is expected to open by the autumn of 2021 and will create approximately 50 new jobs.

To help meet the needs of its growing customer fleet, Gulfstream will invest more than $35 million to build a nearly 160,000 sq ft MRO facility at Alliance. The building will include hangar space, back shops and employee and customer offices. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the third quarter of 2020.

Approximately 150 to 200 of Gulfstream's 230 customer support employees at Love Field are expected to relocate to Alliance, about 35 miles away, while about 30 to 80 employees will remain at Love Field to continue to provide on-site and transient operators with maintenance and service. Gulfstream's mid-cabin aircraft completions business in Dallas, which includes about 350 employees and five hangars, will remain at Love Field.

“Alliance airport is a great location,” says Derek Zimmerman, president, Gulfstream customer support. “It is an established airport for business aviation operators, has an outstanding infrastructure and is appropriately sized for our operations. It is also the home of a growing aviation school, which will help us continue to develop both new and existing employees.

“The additional maintenance capacity we can provide at Alliance, the state-of-the-art facility and substantial job creation are great news for our customers, our employees and the community.”

“We warmly welcome Gulfstream to the AllianceTexas aviation and aerospace community,” adds Mike Berry, president of Hillwood, developer of AllianceTexas. “As one of the world's most respected aerospace companies, Gulfstream becomes part of Fort Worth's storied history of aviation and aerospace innovation. Its expansion here will allow it to leverage specialised area aviation training programmes and provide it with access to a sizeable talented workforce in a unique environment that fosters further growth. We look forward to a long relationship and sharing in its continued success.”

Gulfstream opened maintenance facilities in 2019 in Appleton, Wisconsin; Savannah, Georgia; and Van Nuys, California; and will open two more this year in Palm Beach, Florida; and Farnborough, UK. The company's in-service fleet is more than 2,900 aircraft worldwide. More than 50 Gulfstream aircraft are based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Alliance, the site of major Amazon and FedEx shipping operations, was considered the country's first industrial airport when it opened in 1989. More than 300 flights a day come in and out of the airport, including business jets, military, cargo and general aviation traffic.