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Subdude

By Subdude
in Dallas/Fort Worth/Metroplex

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Subdude

Subdude

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The whole article is in the restricted area, but here's part.

Airport cities

Business on the fly

Nov 24th 2005 | DALLAS-FORT WORTH

From The Economist print edition

How airports act as a hub for business development

IN THE 19th century cities and businesses grew up around the railways; in the 20th century the growth of motorways drove development. But these days the magnets for business are airports. With so much emphasis on just-in-time manufacturing and some professionals needing to jump on planes almost daily, airports are becoming the centres of cities of their own. Warehouses, malls, high-tech firms and even consultancies are setting up shop almost within sight of the runway. It is a phenomenon that John Kasarda, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina calls the “aerotropolis”.

One such aerotropolis has grown up around Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). Jeffrey Fegan, the airport's chief executive, illustrates the phenomenon with a large aerial photograph that has his airport at the centre. Dense clusters of buildings appear on all sides, just beyond the highways that ring the airport. DFW opened in 1974 and is set squarely in the middle of the two huge metropolitan areas that give it its name (see map). But much of the surrounding development has taken place over the past ten years. The immediate airport area has all the facilities travellers expect—rental-car agencies, hotels and cargo storage—as well as the headquarters of American Airlines. Warehouses are on all sides; the latest arrival is Amazon.com, which plans to open a giant plant later this year in the city of Irving, just a 15-minute drive from the airport. A new shopping mall is due to open south of the airport.

It also mentions the same kind of development around Dulles and the Denver airport. Houston has invested a lot to improve the cargo facilities at IAH for the same reason.

Economist

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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I wonder if there are some developments in line for the Hobby area

I'm pissed at Hobby Airport :angry: . They supposedly remodeled the interior, but it STILL looks subpar with many of the other large airports I've seen. It's an airport with restricted landspace, so, like, at LEAST remodel Hobby to the point where the interior is luxurious and sparkling. Think of Dubai's airport (from a previous thread), or an international airport. Creme yellow color and gold all over. Why can't that be Hobby? How about a huge glass wall facing the street similar to the airport for Washington D.C/Baltimore? Chandeliers in the lobby? Red Carpet? Shiny Sofas? Plasma screen t.v.s for while you wait? An internet cafe? Maybe more people would prefer Hobby over Bush Intercontinental if Hooby had a much more competitive setup to that of Bush's new terminals. It's Houston. Think Hobby Center, dammit.

Only one thing positive to say about Hobby. It's about damn time that they started landscaping the area around that airport.

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Subdude

Subdude

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Well, look at it this way. Domestic airports are basically bus terminals. You want them to be decent, but not to the point where landing fees to the airlines go up too much. It would be odd to have a luxurious waiting area before getting herded on a flight like cattle.

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Houston19514

Houston19514

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I'm pissed at Hobby Airport :angry: . They supposedly remodeled the interior, but it STILL looks subpar with many of the other large airports I've seen. It's an airport with restricted landspace, so, like, at LEAST remodel Hobby to the point where the interior is luxurious and sparkling. Think of Dubai's airport (from a previous thread), or an international airport. Creme yellow color and gold all over. Why can't that be Hobby? How about a huge glass wall facing the street similar to the airport for Washington D.C/Baltimore? Chandeliers in the lobby? Red Carpet? Shiny Sofas? Plasma screen t.v.s for while you wait? An internet cafe? Maybe more people would prefer Hobby over Bush Intercontinental if Hooby had a much more competitive setup to that of Bush's new terminals. It's Houston. Think Hobby Center, dammit.

Only one thing positive to say about Hobby. It's about damn time that they started landscaping the area around that airport.

Calm down. The Hobby terminal remodeling/reconstruction project is not done. It is an ongoing project scheduled for completion in 2008.

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skwatra

skwatra

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i agree, i like the look of the new southwest terminal. there are new shops and restaurants, and more to come.

i fly sw for a reason, its cheap and efficient. for all international and business travel, i fly from IAH. i think both airports do a good job of reflecting the type of passengers that go through them. Hobby is actually nicer then what i would expect from a majority Southwest airport.

and Hobby is nicer then many US cities main airports, so i don't think we should complain.

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skwatra

skwatra

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I don't think I've seen any of the new terminals. I last wnt through Hobby early last year.

a lot has changed this year. if you by early last year, you mean early 2004, Hobby looked like crap and i see where you're coming from. things are much better now.

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gto250us

gto250us

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This is intersting:

In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person.

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Houston19514

Houston19514

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This is intersting:

In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person.

I recall reading that there was actually a federal regulation against naming an airport after a living person. (Not that it was against the law per se, but, if you violate the regulation, no federal funds for you...)

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DJ V Lawrence

DJ V Lawrence

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a lot has changed this year. if you by early last year, you mean early 2004, Hobby looked like crap and i see where you're coming from. things are much better now.

You are right. I last went through in January '04. Last time I saw Hobby on t.v. was during the Rita coverage (They were showing the outside of crowded Hobby when so many Houstonians were trying to evacuate...and it looked exactly like the old terminal that I went through the year before.)

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MidtownCoog

MidtownCoog

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I worked in the North councourse of Love Field in the 90s.

Southwest built their Univeristy for People there, and it's really cool.

We used to walk in the South councourse where Delta and the SWA Union was, and it was a time warp. I think they may have changed it for Legend. It's JFK creepy there if you know what I mean.

Did y'all know there used to be an ice skating rink at Love?

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Houston19514

Houston19514

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That would explain Bush Intercontinental :P

Notice the past tense. There WAS a federal regulation. It seems possible that federal regulations might have been changed in the intervening 50 years or so...

From the Hobby Airport website:

To honor Hughes, the name of the airport was changed in July 1938 to "Howard Hughes Airport." But upon discovering that no federal airport improvement funds would be granted to an airport named after a "living" person, Houston City Council reluctantly changed the name back to Houston Municipal Airport later that year.

http://hou.houstonairportsystem.org/about#...HOBBY%20AIRPORT

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skwatra

skwatra

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I can only wish that Dallas LOVE FIELD looked as good as Houston Hobby!

Maybe if we can finally get that blasted Wright Amendment repealed we'd have a chance to get our in-town airport renovated, too.

i'm being selfish here, though i love SW and support anything to help them out, if the Wright Amendment were repealed, would that mean less direct flights out of HOU?

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banking214

banking214

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I think the goal from Southwest is more flights, not less, or shifting them.

And considering the $ Jim Wimberly and Herb put into Hobby, they won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

I think Hobby looks very nice. I feel like I need to shower after walking through Love.

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JasonDFW

JasonDFW

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SO, have they shut down Love field because of inclimate weather yet ?

After DFW had cancelled hundreds of flights, Love was still claiming (about the time you posted this) they had zero cancelled flights and no delays. Part of it is surely the direction of travel of the front but also the heat island of Dallas. The Fort Worth side almost always gets hit harder and sooner in any winter storm.

Jason

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  • 2 weeks later...
ssullivan

ssullivan

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We used to walk in the South councourse where Delta and the SWA Union was, and it was a time warp. I think they may have changed it for Legend. It's JFK creepy there if you know what I mean.

Most of that area is gone now -- it was torn down a couple of years ago. And Legend actually didn't operate out of the main DAL terminal -- they built their own terminal over on Lemmon Ave.

I remember when Continental Express first started the IAH-DAL flights. To get to the gates you had to walk down this corridor that smelled of years of decay past a couple of ancient moving sidewalks that were covered in dust and long since inoperable.

Last time I was there in 2003 there had been a substantial clean up of that part of the terminal. The smell had improved and the moving sidewalks were in the process of being replaced. That cut down on the creepiness factor.

But nothing beats the old DTW in terms of grossness. I used to hate flying through that place, and would do anything to avoid the restrooms there at all cost. I don't think they had been really disinfected since 1985.

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MidtownCoog

MidtownCoog

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I remember when Continental Express first started the IAH-DAL flights. To get to the gates you had to walk down this corridor that smelled of years of decay past a couple of ancient moving sidewalks that were covered in dust and long since inoperable.

I remember this well back in the hey-day of Telecom. I flew that route all the time.

DAL and Detroit Metro are cut from the same mold.

And so is the old part of Midway.

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ssullivan

ssullivan

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And so is the old part of Midway.

Oh yeah how could I forget about MDW. I haven't flown through there since they rebuilt the terminal, but I hear it's quite nice.

And the new Northwest terminal at DTW is an incredible improvement. I actually enjoy flying through there now, where I once dreaded it.

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