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This is an awesome development, with amazing architecture and will be beautiful when completed. The relocations from Virginia and elsewhere are obviously great news for Houston (and I still think the corporate HQ will end up on this campus as well). But, still, every time I read about it I get a little sick to my stomach thinking about they could have done on the vacant blocks surrounding their current downtown tower. Building structures containing about 2.5 million square feet of space added to the existing approx. 1 million square feet of space in the current tower... Could have added 2 or 3 major skyscrapers to our downtown. :-(

It almost sounds like that analysis was written by United's P.R. department. In addition to what 19514 said, the article's whole basic premise is wrong. If this is true: "United's Houston hub is also the third most profitable major airline operation in the country in terms of profit margin, according to Scott Kirby, president of US Airways (LCC_). The golden egg is the vast benefit it brings to Houston's economy." Then United's shareholders should be suing United for gross mismanagement for pulling down operations at IAH when they have such a stranglehold over the hub. In reality, these cuts are nothing but the trimming and re-arranging of routes as the merger progresses. They are moving planes all over the system now that they have a much bigger variety in their fleet in order to maximize usage. Nothing wrong with that. But this was planned anyway. And what non-stop international flights are we losing? One to Auckland which dubiously made sense when Continental launched it as they had no western hub, but now that United has hubs on the west coast - makes no sense and a flight to Morelia, Mexico. And we are gaining non-stop internationals (or competition) to Cancun and a couple of other cities in Mexico and the Caribbean. Doesn't sound like a net loss there.

https://twitter.com/...636146931474432 Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/18769302/university-of-houston-hires-architects-for-new-football-stadium#ixzz1xc1W9l00

The most obvious problem with that analysis, is that United, and especially its Houston hub, will have to compete with Southwest for connecting traffic to Latin America/Caribbean destinations and would have had to do so no matter what decision was made by the Houston city council. Southwest will fly to those destinations. If not from Houston, then from Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, New Orleans. Maybe even Oklahoma City. In any case, connecting passengers don't give a hoot which of those they connect through and would have provided the same competition to Houston's connecting traffic as it will by coming through Hobby. Was Miami's international traffic hurt be the establishment of low-fare international service from Fort Lauderdale Airport? No.

Hopefully the folks in Afton Oaks will be up in arms about this...

actually, that tree is a great example of a mature tree, and I'm glad they took the steps they did to save it. I hope it actually survives the ordeal, the chances of a tree that age being able to survive a transplant aren't that great.

Terminal B construction from the United Lounge.