New Houston Airport

[RedScare]

The Nimby factor is in full swing on the westside. Sugarland is trying to expand its airport just to handle business jets, and the neighbors are already screaming. There was another proposal in Katy that is catching flack and may be dead. Whatever happens, and the westside could be well served by a regional airport, this will most likely not be a Houston venture. Fort Bend County or a private group or a combination would be a more likely entity to create a westside airport.

[kjb434]

I agree.

The City of Houston and Harris County have no needs for more airports. More Airports will only hurt them.

Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston counties will have go on there own if they want and airport. An Airport in Fort Bend will only benifit Sugarland and maybe Westchase. Airports are built for commercial use and not for the general vacationing traveler.

Businessmen that need an airport will be the ones to push for another one.

I do think that the SW is the only ideal location for a new one.

[Guest Plastic]

COuld Ft Bend hold the price tag?

I mean, Westside is the only ideal place for one. Sugarland has no space accept for that prison farm. If Sugarland didn't want an AMC or Bus service thent hey sureley wouldn't want an airport.

The Addicks resevoir is a good location. Right next to the Westpark tollway and I-10 it's easy to get to Westchase and The Energy Corridor where plenty of buisnessmen go.

Also being next to HWY 6 and 1093 it's easily accesible. COnsidering if you live in Katy Sugarland, or even West Houston it's a quick alternative to Interconttinental.

.

[Houston19514]

As has been alluded to by someon earlier in this thread, there is already an airport in Sugar Land.

A few years back, they even had some commercial passenger service. It was something like Lone Star Airline. I think they flew from Sugar Land to Dallas and maybe Austin as well. I believe I also read recently that U.S. Customs and Immigration was establishing a presence there to handle international arrivals of corporate jets. Customs

Here is a link with some interesting information about the airport.

Sugar Land Airport

[kjb434]

plastic,

a new airport won't be there to serve residents who want to travel. It's going to be located for business reasons. West Houst's Office space is located next to the beltway and along I-10 just outside the beltway. The Beltway gives easy and fast access to IAH.

Just look at the signs comming from weschase going north towards I-10. The next control is IAH and not US 290 or I-45. As long as it is easy to get to IAH from the westside of town with the Beltway, the City of Houston and Harris County won't need to consider another airport. An Airport near US 59 just outside the suburbs will be to serve primarily business commuter traffic from Fort Bend Offices. It may also pull business commuter traffic from Westchase.

The business commuter traffic is much more profitable than the general traveling public since business travelyer often pay two to three times as much for their tickets because they book their flights last minute.

And as noted by a previous poster, Sugarland expanding services to Airlines to get more business oriented flights coming in and going out. Sugarlands expansion in this area will only make their area more attractive to suburban office space.

IAH and Hobby adequately serves the current business community quite well and especially when their remodels are complete.

[eelimon]

The one point no one has brought up it that both IAH and Hobby sever not only the Houston region but beyond like East TX and the Gulf Cost. So a third airport will certainly be needed in the near future.

[kjb434]

They are already serving that currently. Their current expansion includes regional needs.

Regionally, the farthest demographic we serve would be Galveston and Conroe.

Beaumont has their own aport that uses IAH as a stop over. But that is the case with many continental flights just American use DFW.

The only airport you'll see move forward will be a business commuter airport with the Sugarland Expansion or if for some reason a small one in extreme west Hou.

If Sugarland gets on the ball first, you can forget about the airport in West Hou.

[midtown_resident]

DC Area has three airports

BWI

Reagan National

Washington Dulles

[MidtownCoog]

Yep, and it's 50 miles from Dulles to BWI.

[DJ V Lawrence]

We should push for Virgin Air to come here, yo

[ssullivan]

They are already serving that currently.  Their current expansion includes regional needs.

Regionally, the farthest demographic we serve would be Galveston and Conroe.

Beaumont has their own aport that uses IAH as a stop over.  But that is the case with many continental flights just American use DFW.

That's not entirely true. My parents live almost 120 miles northeast of downtown Houston and fly mostly out of IAH. BPT (Southeast Texas Regional in Beaumont) is less than 70 miles from them but less convenient due to fewer flights and the layover at IAH. It's often more expensive to fly out of.

IAH gets a lot of passenger traffic from as far north as the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area, southwest toward Victoria (again, they have their own airport but many people find it easier to just drive to Houston), and northwest to Bryan/College Station. I would venture to say that the majority of passengers flying out of the Beaumont/Pt. Arthur/Orange area are driving to Houston as well, simply because having an airport serviced by one commuter airline doesn't give you a lot of options, and if you've got to wait around IAH for an hour or two to connect, you could have just driven and gotten there sooner.

My guess is that the area served by IAH and HOU extends at least 100 miles in all directions from downtown Houston.

[ssullivan]

We should push for Virgin Air to come here, yo 

Would love to see Virgin Atlantic here. Unfortunately I don't really think Houston is one of the cities they are looking to fly to anytime soon. The Houston-London market is already pretty well saturated with two daily flights on Continental and two, and some days three, flights on British Airways.

[kjb434]

I understand ssullivan. Commuter flights as part of trip alway increases the price. Typically driving is cheaper. I would drive to if I was them.

I also gues they don't fly that often (like once a week). I think daily or frequent fliers will use the commuter portion because of the time component of driving.

People that drive that far aren't the primary source of business for IAH and/or Hobby.

Primarily these airports are serving there largest source of travelers, business travelers.

Some Airports like Orlando Int'l make a large portion of there profits from vacationers. Orlando has a huge bus terminal at the Airport to take tourists from the Airport to the Hotels. This bus terminal makes IAH look pathetic, but Houston doesn't need that large of one anyway.

[banking214]

That's not entirely true. My parents live almost 120 miles northeast of downtown Houston and fly mostly out of IAH. BPT (Southeast Texas Regional in Beaumont) is less than 70 miles from them but less convenient due to fewer flights and the layover at IAH. It's often more expensive to fly out of.

IAH gets a lot of passenger traffic from as far north as the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area, southwest toward Victoria (again, they have their own airport but many people find it easier to just drive to Houston), and northwest to Bryan/College Station. I would venture to say that the majority of passengers flying out of the Beaumont/Pt. Arthur/Orange area are driving to Houston as well, simply because having an airport serviced by one commuter airline doesn't give you a lot of options, and if you've got to wait around IAH for an hour or two to connect, you could have just driven and gotten there sooner.

My guess is that the area served by IAH and HOU extends at least 100 miles in all directions from downtown Houston.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree as well. I have friends that live in Sealy and Beaumont, they always end up flying out of Houston.

[ssullivan]

I also gues they don't fly that often (like once a week).  I think daily or frequent fliers will use the commuter portion because of the time component of driving.

People that drive that far aren't the primary source of business for IAH and/or  Hobby.

Well, as you've stated before, other than cities like Orlando which are mainly tourist destinations, most passengers flying to/from/through a large commercial airport are business travelers. But still, people living in those rural areas do make up a significant portion of Houston's airport business. And, there are places in those communities that business travelers are going to who are flying through IAH. Case in point, I know of at least seven universities and community colleges outside the Houston Metro area that are current clients of my company's that we have people traveling to several times a month. The farthest of these is in Nacogdoches (SFA). Our consultants in almost all of those cases are flying into IAH and driving to the client, which may be a two hour drive or more away. The only exception is in the Beaumont area, but still, because of the smaller number of flight options, some of our people are choosing to fly to IAH and drive to Beaumont rather than transfer onto Continental Express or Continental Connection to finish the trip. So those outlying areas are also driving business travel as well, because they are still destinations for some business travelers.

And you'd be amazed at how many frequent business travelers there are that choose to live in a rural area and drive 50-100 miles to an airport every Monday morning and back home at the end of the week. There are a lot of fully remote employees, like myself (I'm actually employed out of the Philly area and report to managers in Rochester NY, southern California, and rural Washington state) who can live just about anywhere they choose. If I wanted to live in a small town, I could easilly move to one tomorrow and not change anything about my job other than the distance I drive to the airport each week.

[eelimon]

I understand ssullivan.  Commuter flights as part of trip alway increases the price.  Typically driving is cheaper.  I would drive to if I was them.

I also gues they don't fly that often (like once a week).  I think daily or frequent fliers will use the commuter portion because of the time component of driving.

People that drive that far aren't the primary source of business for IAH and/or  Hobby.

Primarily these airports are serving there largest source of travelers, business travelers.

Some Airports like Orlando Int'l make a large portion of there profits from vacationers.  Orlando has a huge bus terminal at the Airport to take tourists from the Airport to the Hotels.  This bus terminal makes IAH look pathetic, but Houston doesn't need that large of one anyway.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But the projected volume of people in the next 20 years will grow too in areas like Victoria or Lufkin/Nacogdoches I think you have to take that in consideration. Houston is not the only city that will grow in the next 20yrs.

I am thinking that ssullivan is not the only one in Houston with family outside of Houston. Think about all the people who have to fly out of IAH now it may not be a lot but it will add up in time. I am sure they have to be part of the equation too.

[eelimon]

Well, as you've stated before, other than cities like Orlando which are mainly tourist destinations, most passengers flying to/from/through a large commercial airport are business travelers. But still, people living in those rural areas do make up a significant portion of Houston's airport business. And, there are places in those communities that business travelers are going to who are flying through IAH. Case in point, I know of at least seven universities and community colleges outside the Houston Metro area that are current clients of my company's that we have people traveling to several times a month. The farthest of these is in Nacogdoches (SFA). Our consultants in almost all of those cases are flying into IAH and driving to the client, which may be a two hour drive or more away. The only exception is in the Beaumont area, but still, because of the smaller number of flight options, some of our people are choosing to fly to IAH and drive to Beaumont rather than transfer onto Continental Express or Continental Connection to finish the trip. So those outlying areas are also driving business travel as well, because they are still destinations for some business travelers.

And you'd be amazed at how many frequent business travelers there are that choose to live in a rural area and drive 50-100 miles to an airport every Monday morning and back home at the end of the week. There are a lot of fully remote employees, like myself (I'm actually employed out of the Philly area and report to managers in Rochester NY, southern California, and rural Washington state) who can live just about anywhere they choose. If I wanted to live in a small town, I could easilly move to one tomorrow and not change anything about my job other than the distance I drive to the airport each week.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I totally agree and thank you.

[VicMan]

"One thing IAH really needs to do is fix the inter-terminal transportation system. That little train is a joke. On those occasions when it works, you could almost walk the same distance faster."

Are you talking about the TerminaLink? The TerminaLink is past security and runs between B, C, and IAB (which is connected to D and E). The airport interterminal train before security merely connects the hotel to the terminals.