Clean Energy Fuels officials announced Jan. 25 that they won a 10-year contract to build and operate a new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in Texas.

The CNG station will dispense the equivalent of more than 500,000 gallons per year in CNG to support a new line of CNG shuttle buses serving rental-car agencies.

Plans call for the airport’s rental car center to begin replacing its 46 shuttle buses with CNG buses over the next four years. Terms of the agreement call for the always-open CNG station to open in May. Fueling services will also be available to CNG vehicle owners in the region, as well as the airport’s other CNG-powered vehicles.

Airport officials also awarded Clean Energy Fuels Corp. an extension to June 2020 to support and supply the current CNG station at DFW, which dispenses the equivalent of 2 million gallons of CNG per year to CNG-powered airport terminal buses, shuttle vans and taxis. The company has provided CNG fueling services at DFW since 2001.

“In all of DFW’s ground transportation programs, we are committed to helping reduce our carbon footprint, our fuel costs and our dependence on imported oil. The transition of airport vehicles to clean-burning natural gas power has already contributed significantly to this goal, and will continue to do so,” Rusty Hodapp, DFW airport vice president of energy and transportation management, said. – Frank Nieto