William P. Hobby Airport Houston Hobby |
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | City of Houston | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Houston Airport System | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Serves | Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Houston, Texas (United States) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Focus city for | Southwest Airlines | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 46 ft / 14 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 29°38′44″N 95°16′44″W / 29.64556°N 95.27889°WCoordinates: 29°38′44″N 95°16′44″W / 29.64556°N 95.27889°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | http://www.fly2houston.com/hobby | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||||||
FAA airport diagram |
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Runways | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2015) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Aircraft operations | 200,587 |
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Total Passengers | 12,095,482 |
William P. Hobby Airport (IATA: HOU, ICAO: KHOU, FAA LID: HOU) is an international airport in Houston, Texas, 7 miles (11 km) from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport and was its primary commercial airport until Houston Intercontinental Airport, now George Bush Intercontinental Airport, opened in 1969. After the opening of Intercontinental, Hobby became a secondary airport for domestic airline service as well as a regional center for corporate and private aviation.
Houston is a focus city for Southwest Airlines, and was the seventh-largest city in Southwest's network as of 2015. Hobby is classified as a medium-sized airport, and is currently the third-largest of this airport classification in terms of passengers (behind only Nashville and St. Louis). Southwest opened its first international terminal at Hobby, it began service from Hobby to Mexico and Central and South America on October 15, 2015.
The airport covers 1,304 acres (528 ha) and has four runways. Its original art deco terminal building, which was the first passenger airline terminal in Houston, now houses the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.
Hobby Airport opened in 1927 as a private landing field in a 600-acre (240 ha) pasture known as W.T. Carter Field. The airfield was served by Braniff International Airways and Eastern Air Lines. The site was acquired by the city of Houston and was named Houston Municipal Airport in 1937. The airport was renamed Howard R. Hughes Airport in 1938. Howard Hughes was responsible for several improvements to the airport, including its first control tower, built in 1938. The airport's name changed back to Houston Municipal because Hughes was still alive at the time and regulations did not allow federal improvement funds for an airport named after a living person.