SouthWest Airlines wants to open up Hobby for International Flights ? (Houston: cost, airport)

[AK123]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Hobby needs to be closed and Sugar Land should be turned into another airport serving Southern Houston. I'm tired of driving 45 minutes just to get to the airport from the Westside. Houston and Sugar Land need to work together in making this a reality. (The City of Houston owns Cullinan Park to block the expansion of Sugar Land airport to the north. The prison is freeing up some land to connect the airport to Hwy 99.)

I don't think there's enough room at Sugar Land Regional for something much larger. Especially considering that Cullinan Park was deeded by the land donor to stay undeveloped and as natural as possible. However, I do wish City of Houston would sell it or give ownership to City of Sugar Land... I'm quite sure Sugar Land would do a much better job taking care of the park (Houston does a horrible job with it from what I've seen), considering it literally borders Sugar Land city limits while far from any Houston city limits, and Sugar Land probably has a lot more resources. I have no clue why the family who donated it did so to Houston instead of Sugar Land in the first place.

And yes, the prison was closed by the state because the land is much too valuable for it now, but I think it's set to become another business park when Sugar Land's other one runs out of room.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

Hobby needs to be closed and Sugar Land should be turned into another airport serving Southern Houston. I'm tired of driving 45 minutes just to get to the airport from the Westside. Houston and Sugar Land need to work together in making this a reality. (The City of Houston owns Cullinan Park to block the expansion of Sugar Land airport to the north. The prison is freeing up some land to connect the airport to Hwy 99.)

There's plenty of land West of Sugar Land.

[Marv101]

Why the hell is United afraid of Southwest??/ There are many simple reasons that Southwest has carried more passengers domestically for FIVE consecutive years, and six in a row would appear to be a mortal lock; stellar customer service!!!!

When Southwest enters a market, frequency of service goes up, and prices go down; that's been the case for at least three decades.

A 4 1/2 hour coast-to-coast nonstop on Southwest is no more of an ordeal than it is on United, AA or Delta.

If Southwest is indeed going to lay out some SERIOUS amounts of $$$$ to do what they plan to do at Hobby, get the hell out of the way and let 'em do it; why shouldn't Houston have two international airports?

It's reprehensible enought that the citizens of Big D have to put up with extortion-like airfares out of DFW because of Jim Wright's indefensibly asinine 'Wright Amendment', a blockheaded-and-then-some rule which has not only cost Southwest hundreds of millions of dollars in 100% unnecessary additional expenses for fuel over the years, but has certainly drained the wallet of millions of visitors & resident of the greater DFW are to millions of additional dollars in airfares.

United needs to quit whining and stop acting like a constipated basset hound.

[Topaz]

United is acting like a spoiled crybaby and they are trying to buy their way out of dealing with competition.

I hope Southwest wins this one.

[MikeyAusmus]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

A proposal by Southwest Airlines to offer international flights from Hobby Airport has triggered an intense lobbying duel with United Airlines, which still wields considerable local clout as the successor to Houston-based Continental.
If it gets city approval, Southwest says it would spend an estimated $75 million to $100 million to build a new international terminal equipped with full-scale Customs facilities, as well as to improve the aging airport's domestic terminals. Southwest flights would depart from the new terminal to destinations such as Cancun and the Caribbean.
But United has already broken ground on what may become another international terminal, a $700 million investment piled on top of an additional billion it has pumped into Bush Intercontinental Airport since the late 1990s.
War between United, Southwest looms over Houston - Houston Chronicle

Southwest isn't proposing a large scale international operation at Hobby, just a small 5 gate terminal to service Mexican/Latin American/Caribbean locations.

United hasn't broke ground on a new terminal at IAH. Right now, terminal B is undergoing extensive reconstruction to expand gate capacity and modernization. The next and only other terminal expansion will be at Terminal D (a non-United international terminal) to construct new piers to add 6 new wide-body capable gates to this small terminal. No brand new terminals are planned in the near future at IAH.

The bottom line to this Southwest-United fight is that if both carriers play their cards right neither carrier will lose. Unfortunately, given United's tract record, United will probably lose some local international travel and if Southwest does an outstanding job they will probably suck in other customers from competing carriers to funnel into these Mexican/Latin American/Caribbean locations.

Southwest should have the right to fly international if they so wish, especially since Southwest is putting up the money! United doesn't put up much money at all when it comes to airport expansion and relies heavily on local government support. All in all, Hobby expansion seems like a good idea for travelers and for Houston.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by Topaz

United is acting like a spoiled crybaby and they are trying to buy their way out of dealing with competition.

I hope Southwest wins this one.

That's capitalism, the less competition, the more money they are going to make.
That's just the way the game is played.

[Chicago3rd]

In this one topic and this one topic only it is obvious Houston has a little town outlook while Chicago has an International City outlook. Midway is thriving with its international flights and so is O'Hare. Grow up! Houston has an airport system NOT an airport.

[Truth713]

Originally Posted by Chicago3rd

In this one topic and this one topic only it is obvious Houston has a little town outlook while Chicago has an International City outlook. Midway is thriving with its international flights and so is O'Hare. Grow up! Houston has an airport system NOT an airport.

what are you yapping about dude, the vast majory of houston supportts this like 70 plus, so you statment is a bit absurd, the only people who think this is something worth fighting about are politcians and they do that every where even chicago

[CDeb]

Originally Posted by Chicago3rd

In this one topic and this one topic only it is obvious Houston has a little town outlook while Chicago has an International City outlook. Midway is thriving with its international flights and so is O'Hare. Grow up! Houston has an airport system NOT an airport.

Then it's ironic that the Chicago company has the little town outlook while the Texas company has the international outlook.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by Dopo

That's capitalism, the less competition, the more money they are going to make.
That's just the way the game is played.

Capitalism is not cronyism. United wants to game the system. Communist manufacturers would do the same thing to avoid having to improve their system. After all, they shouldn't have to compete. That unegalitarian.