The facility anchors Alliance, a 9,600-acre international tradeand e-commerce logistics complex located in north Ft. Worth. Mostof the cargo traffic emanates from FedEx's Southwest Regional Hub,which ships more than 175,000 packages daily. Several of Alliance'se-commerce companies are now FedEx clients. AT&T Wireless, aFedEx client, reportedly has grown 600% since consolidatingregional distribution centers into a national facility three yearsago. Logistics Services estimates it ships 15,000 to 20,000packages a day to on-line customers for same-day delivery.

Alliance Airport is the "world's first purely industrialairport," emphasizes Tim Ward, president of Alliance Air Services,the Hillwood subsidiary that manages the cargo facility. The directaccess to air cargo service guarantees overnight delivery until10:45 p.m., adding an estimated two hours to the business day,according to Ward. The airport ranking was accorded by an industrymagazine.

Alliance has boosted its roster to nearly 100 companies,including 27 from the Fortune 500. In a little over a decade, theAlliance-based firms have invested $4 billion to build 15.2 millionsf, creating 17,000 full-time jobs and generating $80 millionannually in property taxes.