While Emirates continues touting its much publicized new Houston service around the world, airport authorities at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) are pulling out all the stops to welcome the Dubai-based air carrier next month when it is scheduled to arrive for the first time at IAH. The airport’s Terminal D is undergoing a massive facelift that when completed will give the airline a royal welcome. Entire portions of the Mickey Leland International Terminal are being reconfigured to offer 20 additional common-use ticket counters, even more upscale retail and restaurant shops, including an unprecedented new on-airport spa/beauty lounge, and several other upgrades to be completed over the course of the next several years. All these developments are the result of Houston’s growing international passenger traffic, which last year totaled more than 7.5 million travelers. Emirates is only one of the many international carriers that have recently started new scheduled service at Bush Intercontinental. China Airlines, Korean Airlines, EVA Air Cargo, City Star Airlines and AirBridge Cargo are among the carriers that have either begun operating or are on the verge of kicking off new flights to Houston’s largest airport. In fact, IAH is now considered the world’s fourth-fastest growing airport.

© Houston Airport System Red Carpet Treatment. Terminal D at IAH is undergoing massive upgrades for Emirates.

Genaro Pena, director of marketing and air service development for the Houston Airport System (HAS), says new longer-haul aircraft and legislative changes are paving the way for the airport to become increasingly more relevant as an international gateway for air carriers.

“With the open skies agreement between the United States and the European Union alone we are expecting several dozen more flights to Europe next year,” Pena notes. “Add to that the capacity problems that the airlines are running into at other more traditional international gateways and it’s easy to see why we are growing at this pace; especially when it comes to Asia and Europe, where the options of many carriers were limited because of the distances their old fleets could manage.”

The United States-European Union bilateral open skies agreement that was approved earlier this year gives U.S. carriers access to London’s Heathrow Airport for the first time in history. It also makes it possible for international carries to compete on a more level playing field by eliminating air space restrictions such as the one that prevented foreign-owned airlines from flying into Heathrow up until now.

For Emirates, nonetheless, the Houston option was more of a necessity than an alternative. Executives at the airline point to Houston’s global significance in the energy/petrochemical industry.

“We believe there is a strong and growing demand for convenient air travel connections between the US and cities in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent,” said Emirates chairman and CEO, Sheikh Ahmed Bid Saeed Al-Maktoum. “It has been our intention to expand our presence in North America and the delivery of our new 777-200LRs later this year enables us to operate these ultra long-haul routes efficiently, while providing our passengers with the latest comforts and amenities onboard.”

A special committee created under the airport system’s balanced scorecard initiative has spent the latter half of this year preparing the impressive development underway in Terminal D. This is the terminal from which Emirates will operate three weekly flights out of Houston.

The balanced scorecard initiative is a system wide program which focuses on preparing the city’s three main airports for the anticipated 80 million passengers expected to pass through Houston annually by the year 2020. Jeff Kelly, HAS airport business development manager, is the team leader of the Terminal D balanced scorecard committee and says many more upgrades await the international air carriers in Terminal D during the years to come.

“The project is well on its way,” says Kelly. “I think the airlines will be very surprised to see what we have come up with.”

Plans include an exclusive VIP lounge, a $25 million inline baggage screening system to be completed by early 2009, and additional Transportation Security Administration personnel and checkpoints at the facility.

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