» Newsletters
Houston Airport System
June 23, 2006
|
What gives asked a Dallas Morning News aviation reporter in a recent edition of his publication, referring to the fact that last year Houston’s largest airport registered a 9 percent increase in international passenger traffic and surpassed other major airports around the globe – including hot Asian airports such as Singapore’s – as the fourth-fastest growing airport in the world.
This article came out only days after the International Air Transport Association announced that world passenger traffic for the first four months of this year had increased by 6.9 percent over the previous year.
In Houston, this announcement came as no big surprise.
Air traffic statistics indicate that for the same first four months of this year passenger traffic in Houston had increased well above the international average, by 8 percent year-over-year – this despite the fact that overall capacity in Houston had only increased by 1.7 percent between 2005 and 2006.
So what gives?
Airport officials might have you believe that recent additions such as a newly-constructed Federal Inspection Services facility at Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) – which is the largest of its kind in the world – or other recent improvements included in a $3.1 billion |
|
© Houston Airport System
|
capital improvement project that was just completed at IAH are the root proponents of this growth.
But carriers at the airport system’s two commercial airports point out a different reason: the city’s international appeal, its global economic importance and its strong origin and destination market.
Continental Airlines is based out of Houston and is the primary carrier at IAH. The airline offers the nation’s most number of weekly nonstop flights and destinations into Mexico from that airport. According to Sarah Anthony, spokesperson for Continental, choosing Houston as a hub location was not a matter of coincidence.
“Bush Intercontinental Airport is strategically positioned as an international gateway. Today, it is a key connection point for travel to Mexico, Central and South America, Europe and the Pacific,” she said.
With already 870 international flights a week from IAH, Continental is determined to continue expanding their network. Anthony points out that this summer the carrier will increase its daily departures from Houston by 9.2 percent over the previous year – a large part of these increases will be in international routes.
Long-established air service providers are not the only ones looking to expand their operations in Houston, however. Internationally-based carriers like Air India, Virgin Nigeria, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Korean Air have all expressed interest in adding Houston to their air service networks.
Air France southern region district manager, Samy Gachem says better connectivity is the main reason for having a Houston connection. This month, the airline increased its scheduled service to Paris from IAH for the second time since starting service at the airport to 14 flights a week, up from 10 previous weekly operations.
“It gives us the ability to service Houston’s oil industry with our African and Middle Eastern routes and gives us the ability to provide the city with connections to more than 2,300 daily flights,” he said.
The city has an all-inclusive, centrally-located air, rail, sea and land transportation network that makes access into Latin America and the rest of the world more effective and efficient.
“Long-range aircraft now make it possible for carriers to fly longer distances and this allows them to better connect with their key markets,” said Richard M. Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System. “In Houston, this is especially true for Asian and Latin American carriers, who by force of economic ties are intricately connected and who benefit from more direct air service through Houston.”
M. Nadeem Akhtar is a national account manager for Lufthansa, the world’s largest German Airline, and notes that Houston’s central location is essential to the growth of international air travel.
“The opportunities are tremendous,” he said.
Just this month, Lufthansa announced its plans to enter a code share agreement with Africa-based Qatar Airways to bring that airline into the US market – more specifically, into Houston.
“Launching our own flights to the US has been on our books for sometime and we are pleased to announce that this will become reality during the course of (this) year,” said Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways to the African press after the announcement of the new code share agreement. “America is a key market and no airline that truly wants to be a global operator can afford to ignore the US."
For carriers already in the fourth-largest city in the US and those considering it as an option it seems Houston is the “key market that no airline that truly wants to be a global operator can afford to ignore.”
Copyright © 2006 - Houston Airport System | 
