Houston Intercontinental Airport, as it was originally known, was opened in 1969. It had taken all passenger traffic from William P. Hobby Airport, known back then as Houston International Airport. Hobby Airport reopened under its current name several years later. The Mickey Leland International Airlines building was opened in May1990, and the new terminal E was partially opened on June 3, 2003. The rest of terminal E opened on January 7, 2004. The new Federal Inspection Service (FIS) building was completed on January 25, 2005.
Houston Intercontinental Airport was renamed George Bush Intercontinental Airport/Houston in 1997 and retains its IATA Airport Code, IAH. Houston is seen by many as a nice hub due to location, especially for flights into Latin America. Many also feel that the airport is well organized.
The underground inter-terminal train links all of the five terminals of the airport together. Unfortunately, the passenger must go out of the sanitized zone to board the train. However, Terminals B and C have the Terminalink, a train in the sanitized zone. There are also walkways between C, D, and E.
METRO's METRORail is slated to come to George Bush Intercontinental from downtown.
Bush Intercontinental Airport has five terminals and encompasses 10,000 acres (40 km²). It is the ninth busiest in the United States for total passengers, and fourteenth busiest worldwide.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport has five terminals.
US Airways (Charlotte, Pittsburgh; Washington National starting February 6, 2005)
Terminal B
Continental Express (Alexandra, Atlanta, Austin, Bakersfield, Baton Rouge, Beaumont, Birmingham, Boise, Brownsville, Charleston (SC), Charleston (WV), Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Columbia (SC), Columbus, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Dallas Love Field, Dayton, Des Moines, El Paso, Fayeteville (AR), Ft. Walton Beach, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Greenville, Gulfport, Harlingen, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville, Killeen, Kansas City, Knoxville, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Laredo, Lexington, Little Rock, Louisville, Lubbock, McAllen, Memphis, Midland, Milwaukee, Mobile, Nashville, Nassau, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Palm Springs, Pensacola, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, Salt Lake City, Sarasota/Bradenton, Savannah, Shreveport, St. Louis, Tallahassee, Toronto, Tucson, Tulsa, Washington Dulles, West Palm Beach, Wichita)
Flights to the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico (Albuquerque, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Birmingham, Boston, Calgary, Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, El Paso, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Gulfport, Gunnison, Hartford, Hayden, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Kahului, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, McAllen, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Montrose/Telluride, New Orleans, New York La Guardia, Newark, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orange County (Santa Ana), Orlando, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh-Durham, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (CA), San Juan, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Tucson, Tulsa, Vail/Eagle, Vancouver, Washington Dulles, Washington Reagan, West Palm Beach)
Continental Airlines - Mexico, Latin America, Europe, and Japan (Acapulco, Agana, Belize City, Bogota, Cancun, Caracas, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Ixtapa, Liberia (CR), Lima, London Gatwick, Managua, Merida, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Monterrey, Panama City, Paris De Gaulle, Puerto Vallarta, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Roatan, San Jose del Cabo, San Jose (CR), San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Sao Paulo, Tegucigalpa, Tokyo Narita)
Continental Express - Mexico (Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Ciudad Del Carmen, Durango, Guadalajara, Huatulco, Ixtapa, Leon/Guanajuato, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Mexico City, Monclova, Monterrey, Morelia, Oaxaca, Puebla, Puerto Vallarta, Saltillo, San Jose del Cabo, San Luis Potosi, Tampico, Toluca, Torreon, Veracruz, Villahermosa)
This airport is named after George H. W. Bush, who is alive as of April2005. Another Houston Airport, William P. Hobby Airport, when it was called Houston Municipal Airport, had its name briefly changed to Howard R. Hughes Airport in 1938, but because Mr Hughes was alive at the time, the airport's name was changed back to Houston Municipal. There appear to be no plans to change the name from George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
