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Houston Airport System
December 15, 2008
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The long row of television news cameras was a good indication that a major announcement was waiting right around the corner.
A total of six lenses and several additional microphones were all focused on the podium at City Hall when Houston Mayor Bill White officially broke the good news that Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) was in for a major renovation.
“There’s good news for jobs in the economy in Houston. This expansion of Bush Airport and the terminal means that Houstonians will have more options on where to travel, and less crowding at the airport when they do travel,” Mayor White said. “People who come here to visit or do business will have more options and we will have a stronger economy.”
The expansion is a $1.2 billion partnership between the Houston Airport System (HAS) and Continental Airlines. It’s a project that calls for several improvements in a variety of areas including the following:
a) North/South Ramp Replacement
b) Terminal B Parking Structure Replacement (will add public parking)
c) Infrastructure (which includes improvements to existing roadway, signage, utilities and fuel storage systems to accommodate the new facilities)
d) Expansion of the Automated People Mover (APM) to Terminal A.
e) Terminal B South Side Concourse Replacement Facility (including a central elevated passenger hold area.)
f) Terminal B North Side Concourse Replacement Facility (consisting of a three-pier concourse connecting to the northwest concourse of the existing Terminal C designed to accommodate 30-35 aircraft gates.)
g) Central Terminal B Redevelopment (consisting of either the refurbishment or rebuilding of the existing Terminal B and executed in phases to allow for the use of the facility during the renovation period.)
h) Construction of a new Federal Inspections Services facility (for processing of international passengers)
“The time is right for a project like this,” says Rick Vacar, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System (HAS). “Our customer base is growing, the cargo business is steadily improving, we are attracting new carriers and IAH is gaining attention as a global gateway.” |
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© Houston Airport System
Media gathered to hear plans for IAH's Terminal B and got the first look at renderings of what the terminal will look like |
That statement says quite a bit about the overall strength of the Houston Airport System as well as the local economy, given the fact that the national economic outlook has not been overly promising in recent months. Still, leadership at both HAS and Continental Airlines see the Terminal B renovation as the right move at the right time.
“It is important for us to make strategic planning decisions so that we will be able to keep pace with this growth,” Vacar says. “We want our passengers to have exactly what they need and we want travelers to make this their number one choice of airports.”
“As we look to expand Terminal B, this will be a multi-faceted project,” added Larry Kellner, chairman and chief executive officer for Continental Airlines. “It will be a large investment for us, a large investment for the city but we’re extremely excited about where it will take us, where we can go and it’s just another step in our development.”
The renovation will expand the terminal from 360,000 square feet to roughly 1.7 million square feet, which will make it larger than the city’s state of the art baseball stadium, Minute Maid Park.
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