Southwest Airlines opened a new maintenance facility at William P. Hobby International Airport on Jan. 8, highlighting the importance Houston holds for the nation's largest domestic airline and underscoring its commitment to safety while investing in the Bayou City.

The 240,000 square-foot-maintenance complex, now the largest in the airline's network, includes offices, training facilities, warehouse space, and a 140,000 square-foot-hangar. This allows for the nearly 400 Houston-based Technical Operations employees to work simultaneously on up to six 737 aircraft indoors and has space for an additional eight aircraft outside the hangar bays. It replaces Southwest's smaller Technical Operations facility at Hobby Airport, which opened in 1988.

"We thank Southwest Airlines for its nearly 50-year partnership and commitment to the Houston community," Mayor Sylvester Turner said. "Between the direct employment of 5,000 local residents, continued growth in flight activity, and this investment in infrastructure, the airline represents $3 billion in economic impact for Houston each year, and that's something that makes us proud and thankful."

"This state-of-the-art hangar will support our Technical Operations Team's unwavering commitment to safety and maintaining our fleet to the highest standards," said Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO. "I'm very proud of our hundreds of Technical Operations employees in Houston for the work they do every day to support our growing operation from Houston's Hobby Airport, which includes almost 200 departures per day during peak seasons to nearly 70 destinations across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean."

Southwest’s commitment to Hobby Airport, and its growing service to international destinations throughout Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean, is a big reason why Hobby Airport served 14,476,469 passengers in 2018, a 7.7 percent increase over 2017 and topping the 14 million mark for the first time. That number includes 1,029,698 international passengers, a 16.3 percent increase over 2017 and reached the 1 million mark for the first time since the return of international air service in 2015. In fact, Hobby’s 2018 domestic passenger numbers alone are higher than the record 13,435,672 combined domestic and international passengers served in 2017.

Broadcast-quality photos and videos are available for download at the carrier's online newsroom, swamedia.com/houstonhangar.