Included in the business delegation were HAS Chief Operations Officer Saba Abashawl, Senior V.P. of Tourism for Houston First Jorge Franz, United Airlines Sales Director - Mexico Rolf Meyer and executives with Houston First and United Airlines
L to R: United Airlines' Colombia Manager Jorge Silva, Houston First V.P. Jorge Franz, United Airlines Latin Sales Director Fred Thorne and Houston Airports Chief Executive Officer Saba Abashawl
L to R: Houston First V.P. Jorge Franz, United Airlines Director of Marketing and City Ticket Offices, Latin Sales Erik Blanchard and Houston Airports Chief Executive Officer Saba Abashawl
The global community outreach of Houston Airports focuses specifically on public and industry awareness of the airport system’s facilities and services. Houston Airports benefits through enhanced passenger knowledge and acceptance as well as the promotion of new and long-standing air service routes.
In February, Saba Abashawl, Chief External Affairs Officer, joined Jorge Franz, VP of Tourism at Visit Houston, and representatives from United Airlines who traveled to Bogota, Colombia, to participate in events that celebrate United’s 25 years of direct air service from Houston to Bogota.
In Bogota, Abashawl and Franz facilitated the promotion of Houston Airports as the premier US gateway to Latin America. Her participation also gave Houston Airports the opportunity to network by forming and strengthening relationships with travel industry leaders. “United Airlines is Houston Airports’s major operator,” Abashawl said, “and we believe it is important to have representation at such a milestone event. A quarter-century of service to Bogota by United is a notable and worthwhile achievement.”
In a visit to Mexico later in February, Houston Airports combined efforts with Visit Houston and promoted George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) as convenient and reliable gateways to Mexico.
With Houston Airports ever looking to improve its award-winning services, Abashawl represented Houston Airports in industry meetings to discuss improvements in the arrival and departure process for international passengers at IAH and HOU and continued to promote the well-earned reputation of Houston Airports as an international gateway.
Discussion topics also included international collaboration and new airport technology.
Mexico stands as Houston's number one international market. The region offers more than 400 non-stop flights per week from Houston to almost 30 destinations in Mexico.
Visit Houston is the official tourism brand for Houston under the umbrella of the Houston First Corporation. Visit Houston works to bring meetings, events and conventions to the city as well as to attract more leisure visitors (passengers) to Houston. Their goal is to attract 25 million annual visitors to Houston by 2020. They are currently at 21.8 million and on track to meet that goal.
Promotional efforts like those to Bogota and Mexico helped IAH and HOU finish with more than 58 million passengers (combined) in 2018. These efforts lay the foundation to realize the vision for future growth and expansion within the Houston Airports. The Houston Airports vision is to establish Houston as a 5-star global air service gateway where the magic of flight is celebrated.