IAH and Hobby Terminal expansions (Houston, Willis: lease, employment, buying)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

A lot of expansions on the way at both IAH and Hobby. Instead of making yet another thread for the new terminal B North, I'll post all of the expansions here starting with the most recent announcement for the new Terminal B North project. It will upgrade the terminal to serve medium body jets rather than just regional jets.

Projected opening date shows for 2026


https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2269920/United2.jpg



https://communityimpact.com/uploads/.../07/260001.jpg

[gwarnecke]

I'm a little young to be a grumpy old man, but I wish IAH would take a break from the constant construction/expansion once the work at D/E is done and just let us travelers use and enjoy a "finished", fully-functional airport for awhile!

Hopefully this project will at least be relatively-minimally impactful to the C/D/E terminals.

[atadytic19]

United has been more dodgy than usual. There's been talk the last few years that they will move their headquarters from Chicago.

United was in their feelings when SW first really began their Hobby expansion. Despite being a much larger airline they raised issues about competition. So I was surprised to hear that United joined forces with their biggest competition, American Airlines, in an attempt to STOP expansion of O'Hare.

United has been buying up land around the airport in Denver so there's been talk for years that United would move HQ's there.

Doesn't look for Chicago if they are expanding everywhere and teaming up with American to stop airport expansion of O'Hare.

O'Shea also claimed that United has revived a 2018 threat to move its headquarters from Chicago if it doesn't get its way.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...are-expansion/

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

I'm a little young to be a grumpy old man, but I wish IAH would take a break from the constant construction/expansion once the work at D/E is done and just let us travelers use and enjoy a "finished", fully-functional airport for awhile!

Hopefully this project will at least be relatively-minimally impactful to the C/D/E terminals.

I get you, but if you've been through the old part of B anytime recently, it's so painfully obvious that it needs to be redone.

I actually love the other (newer) side of that terminal, the big waiting area feels kind of grand.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

United has been more dodgy than usual. There's been talk the last few years that they will move their headquarters from Chicago.

United was in their feelings when SW first really began their Hobby expansion. Despite being a much larger airline they raised issues about competition. So I was surprised to hear that United joined forces with their biggest competition, American Airlines, in an attempt to STOP expansion of O'Hare.

United has been buying up land around the airport in Denver so there's been talk for years that United would move HQ's there.

Doesn't look for Chicago if they are expanding everywhere and teaming up with American to stop airport expansion of O'Hare.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...are-expansion/

United and American want to slow down expansion at ORD for two reasons - 1. The cost is ballooning and 2. They don't want to markedly increase the airport's cost per emplaned passenger if other airlines (including each other) gains additional access.

The HQ move possibility is interesting. It's hard for me to believe that this particular issue would be the impetus for them to move, but at the end of the day, Denver or Houston (or even Northern Virginia near Dulles Airport) is probably a better HQ choice than Chicago.

[atadytic19]

Naw, there's been talk of the headquarter move since before the deal was made for the expansion.

United keeps giving shady answers like we do not have any immediate plans to relocate at this time.
I have heard that one so many times.

My money is on Denver.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

My money is on them staying in Chicago for years. DC isn’t in the running even if they were to move. It would go down to Houston and Denver. But they’re likely staying in Chicago for years

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

My money is on them staying in Chicago for years. DC isn’t in the running even if they were to move. It would go down to Houston and Denver. But they’re likely staying in Chicago for years

I agree - I think they're just posturing, but some of their other hubs do make sense.

I don't actually think they'd go to Northern VA - just that an HQ would work well there too (educated population, big aviation sector to pull employees from, etc.). Cost of living would work against them though.

[atadytic19]

I don't think there has been much talk about moving anywhere other than Denver.

Denver is also the one city that United keeps denying that they are moving to but with the caveat "right now" added to it.

Remember how Exxon said for years that they don't have plans to move to Houston...right now. Then they built the campus and repeated the same line.
Then slowly consolidated workers there while repeating the same thing.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.9ne...0-adc7c71b61ed

The airline said it intends to build a satellite pilot training facility on part of the land to supplement their existing training facility, which is currently located near Central Park.

Although the facility would only take up a small portion of the purchased land, United says in a statement that it will "evaluate additional opportunities in the future as the United Next plan unfolds."

Might be reading too much into it but these companies are always dodgy with information.

And the Denver love goes both ways:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301831991.html

To commemorate United's long-term commitment to the city of Denver, Mayor Michael B. Hancock has issued a proclamation naming today 'United Airlines Day.' United's presence in Denver is significant to the prosperity of the city,

I think Chicago will remain their primary hub, but they are gonna slowly drift to Denver.

https://viewfromthewing.com/uniteds-...ove-to-denver/

United Airlines purchased 113 acres in Denver for $33 million. When news broke last month,...”

At the TD Cowen Global Transportation Conference, airline CFO Gerald Laderman said there are “no imminent plans” to move their headquarters, noting that the airline has “a long-term lease at Willis Tower. We’ve been there for decades in Chicago. Denver is like Houston. We have lots of facilities in Houston.”
They’ve already scaled down their presence in Chicago’s Willis Tower (née Sears Tower). They cannot make an ‘imminent’ move because nothing has been built in Denver yet. When Boeing’s tax benefits for locating in Chicago ran out, they decamped for Northern Virginia. United has clashed with city administration in Chicago. And United lacks a corporate campus like Delta and American now have.

From 1937 to 1963, United Airlines corporate predecessor Continental Airlines was headquartered in Denver. While it’s likely that no final decision has been made, all that United is saying is the obvious that no move is ‘imminent.’ That’s not a denial, and 113 acres buys United Airlines a lot of optionality.

Also, rumors like this persist:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...lights-chicago

Asked then about a threat by United to move its corporate headquarters out of Chicago, Minerva said, “We have heard that has been discussed.”

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

I don't think there has been much talk about moving anywhere other than Denver.

Denver is also the one city that United keeps denying that they are moving to but with the caveat "right now" added to it.

Remember how Exxon said for years that they don't have plans to move to Houston...right now. Then they built the campus and repeated the same line.
Then slowly consolidated workers there while repeating the same thing.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.9ne...0-adc7c71b61ed


Might be reading too much into it but these companies are always dodgy with information.

And the Denver love goes both ways:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...301831991.html

I think Chicago will remain their primary hub, but they are gonna slowly drift to Denver.

https://viewfromthewing.com/uniteds-...ove-to-denver/


Also, rumors like this persist:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...lights-chicago

Actually, in terms of passengers and passenger capacity, Houston has been their largest hub, not Chicago, almost consistently ever since the Continental merger minus a brief period just following the merger and the year of Covid. But with the way expansions are looking, it seems more likely that Denver will overtake Chicago to become the second largest hub. The previous article you posted speaks on United’s struggles to expand in Chicago in comparison to Houston. A Denver hq move could happen but everything is speculation as of now. For every Denver expansion you’ve shown, there’s a Houston expansion. The OP here for example. United’s recently open largest training facility as another example. Chicago is where they’ve struggled to expand recently.

But despite Houston and Denver receiving more expansions than Chicago, the odds are still in Chicago’s favor for their long term hub. Again every “rumor” you’ve shown is speculation. Their operations center and corporate remains in Chicago. They could theoretically keep the operations center in Chicago while moving corporate (and thus the hq), but this would be unlike anything ever done in the airline industry.

Exxon is not a good comparison because they had absolutely unproportionally concentrated their employment in Houston. United’s heavy employment centers are split 3 ways between Chicago, Houston and Denver (in that order). Those 3 are their primary hubs and where most facilities are located. Houston has the higher ammount of corporate employment (stemming from the Continental days). The Denver move articles were entirely speculation about the land acquisition. But the land acquisition could be any type of facility. It’s too early to tell what they plan on doing with that land.

I’ll agree on the “looking too deep into it” part