In the late 1980s, the economy of Fort Worth, Texas, was reeling from defense cuts and the associated job losses. At the same time, the FAA was conducting a study on airport capacity at Dallas/Fort Worth International, Dallas Love Field, and Forth Worth Meacham International airports. When those intersected with land that had been acquired by a nascent developer, the result was a new kind of public airport. Fort Worth Alliance Airport opened on December 14,1989, and celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary last December. "The FAA was looking to create a new airport model for the DFW area," said Tom Harris, president of Alliance Air/Aviation Services. "Alliance, Texas, was really a vision Ross Perot Sr. and Ross Perot Jr. had in the mid-1980s," he explained. Perot had sold Electronic Data Systems, founded in 1962, to General Motors and used the proceeds to purchase a large amount of land in north Fort Worth. "The FAA approached them and asked them to consider donating some of this land for use as an airport."
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