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A small plane is active on the runway at Fort Worth’s Spinks Airport, a facility that could see major improvements over the next two decades. (Courtesy image | City of Fort Worth)
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Spinks Airport, Fort Worth’s southern airport near Burleson, could see major improvements — including a runway extension and a vertiport for next-generation electric air taxis — to increase business travel over the next two decades.

An airport master plan, which details needed upgrades to the 36-year-old facility, was approved by the Fort Worth City Council during their Aug. 13 meeting. The plan will need approval from the Texas Department of Transportation’s aviation division and the Federal Aviation Administration before it goes into effect, said Roger Venables, the city’s aviation director.

The airport is located at 450 Alsbury Court, south of East Rendon Crowley Road and east of Interstate 35 West. The facility consists of two runways, a FAA control tower, three flight schools, car rental services and multiple maintenance facilities among the 40 buildings. 

The airport plan, which the FAA recommends be updated every seven to 10 years, was last updated in 2004. The proposal calls for $93.6 million worth of improvements, including a new full-length taxiway, terminal, aircraft hangars and additional parking as well as land preserved for future airport use. The facilities would be built between 2025 and 2044, depending on municipal needs and available funding.

Venables said the plan will help guide decisions about allocating city resources toward future development and serve as the basis for capital improvement projects that can receive federal and state funding. Those projects could include runway and taxiway rehabilitation or extensions, airfield navigational aids, and other airfield infrastructure that will help meet forecasted demand over the next 20 years, Venables said.

“In terms of improving transportation in Fort Worth,” Venables said, “Spinks is designated by the FAA as a general aviation airport, operating to relieve congestion at commercial service airports by providing improved general aviation access to the overall community. “

The plan identifies opportunities that help support its role as a general aviation reliever airport, Venables said.

A proposed runway extension would go from 6,002 feet to 7,302 feet to allow additional aircraft types that require longer runways to land at Spinks. The extension, Venables said, would allow Spinks to relieve congestion from commercial service airports.

“The airport today, and in the future, supports a growing segment of business aviation aircraft,” he said.

A vertiport — for helicopter-like electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (EVTOL), also known as air taxis — is among the proposals being considered for development, Venables said. 

Officials in Arlington and Fort Worth have explored adoption of the new technology over the past several years, according to previous Fort Worth Report coverage. The Spinks plan identifies potential site locations that could transport “people and cargo in an urban environment,” Venables said. 

The airport, 13 miles south of downtown Fort Worth, also has a 3,660-foot turf runway suitable for small prop planes and jets of various sizes. The facility promotes that Spinks Airport “features acreage ready to develop and offers easy, quick access to I-35W, bypassing DFW Class B airspace,” according to its website.

The airport is named for Maurice Hunter “Pappy” Spinks, an aviation manufacturer and aerobatic competitor who established the Oak Grove Airport near Burleson in the early 1960s. Oak Grove closed in 1989, years after Spinks died in 1982.

After the Oak Grove airport was closed, Spinks Airport was activated in 1989 as a public-use airport intended to relieve traffic at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Meacham International Airport in Fort Worth.

Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. 

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