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Houston Airport System
October 11, 2007
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Here is a something you don’t hear about everyday – a group of civic and community leaders banding together to talk about the airports. Not to complain or demand change, but to celebrate and encourage the future growth of the aviation community in Houston.
When the founders of the group, Friends of the Airport (FOA), first began discussing the possibilities of organizing into a formal committee, in 2005, the main driving force behind their efforts was frustration. For years they had heard about the negative aspects of having such large neighboring airports in the city, without so much as a mention to any of the positive impacts.
Roy Hearnsberger, chair of the group, recalls, they decided it was time for a change. That year Friends of the Airport was born.
“We try to educate the public about the airports. If people don’t use the airport for personal needs, they don’t realize the business aspect it has on the community,” he explains. “Without the airport, I know my business would never be the size it is.”
Hearnsberger is senior vice president of the architectural and engineering firm Carter Burgess. He is also one of the city’s most active business leaders. The membership of Friends of the Airport also includes the likes of former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, Jack Drake, Greater Greenspoint Management District president, and Ned Holmes, Parkway Investments chairman and CEO, Giti Zarinkelk, Zarinkelk Engineering Services president, among many others.
What all these community leaders share in common, Hearnsberger says, is their unique understanding of why Houston’s airports need to continue growing. More than $24 billion dollars in positive economic impact and over 151,000 jobs, for the local region, are currently attributed to the growth so far of the city’s three main airports – George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Ellington Field.
At the recent Friends of the Airport committee meeting, held earlier this month, Richard M. Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System, was the honorary guest. He spoke about the unique air service development opportunities the city has because of its geographic location and aviation friendly community. |
“This organization helps us from the standpoint of getting a message out that’s positive about the Houston Airport System,” Vacar told the crowd. “That message is that our airports are big drivers of jobs and economic development, and this message needs to be out.”
Friends of the Airport is an independent organization that does not have any affiliation with the Houston Airport System, or any other group. Some of the goals of FOA include rallying the business community in support of airport developments, providing an independent voice to the news media, countering costly proposals by anti-airport groups and helping the airports’ secure a fair amount of federal and state funding for future growth.
As more people learn about the group, their membership continues to increase. At the first FOA committee meeting there were only a handful of members – today, more than 200 civic and community leaders form part of this unique organization.
Sally Bradford, executive director of the Greenspoint Area Development Authority, is one of the airports’ newer friends. She joined the group after learning about its existence at a networking event.
“When George Bush Intercontinental Airport was opened in 1969, literally nothing was around,” she says. “If you look at the development that’s happened in the past 30 to 40 years and you look at the aerial view, it’s absolutely amazing.”
To learn more about Friends of the Airport, please visit www.friendsoftheairport.org.
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