Located about 7 miles SE of downtown Houston, Texas, just west of I-45 (the "Gulf Freeway"), lies the William P. Hobby Airport --- more commonly known as "Houston Hobby Airport" or "Hobby Airport" (or by its "HOU" 3-letter abbreviation). It is the city's original commercial airport and -- while definitely still a very common gateway to the city -- is often not as familiar to people OUTSIDE of the country than its larger and newer rival, the infamous "Bush Intercontinental Airport" ("IAH") located quite a distance further from Houston's center: about 18 miles North of downtown. While most international and inter-contentinal carriers fly into and out of IAH, Hobby focuses more on regional and "short" international destinations: its largest carrier is Southwest Airlines.
As best stated by its own
website:
"Originally established in 1927 as a private airfield named WT Carter Field, the City of Houston purchased the airport in 1937 and renamed it Houston Municipal Airport.
In 1938, the airport was briefly renamed Howard Hughes Airport, in honor of a major benefactor and airport user. The name was soon changed back to HMA, after the US government informed Houston that no federal funds would be granted to any facility named after a living person.
During the 1940's, major improvements were made to runways and airport buildings. It stayed busy during World War II, and by 1950, four airlines provided regular passenger service from HMA.
As national and international flights became commonplace in the 1950's, a new main airport passenger terminal was built, old runways improved, and new & improved runways added to facilitate landing jet aircraft. Dozens of private hangers and aviation facilities were added along Telephone Road on the airport's west side.
The current name was given to the airport in 1967, in honor of ex-governor and Houston Post newspaper owner William P. Hobby
In 1969, the first sections of the new Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) were completed, and Hobby's scheduled passenger traffic was relocated to IAH. Hobby Airport continued to serve private aviation as a "general aviation airport", which included FBO operations, corporate flights, flight training, & air-cargo operations.
In 1971, Southwest Airlines reinstituted scheduled domestic passenger traffic at Hobby airport. As IAH became more crowded, other airlines also began operations at Hobby. Twelve commercial airlines currently serve Hobby Airport.
The airport is convenient for business travelers, as it is only a few miles from downtown Houston, as well as near the massive oil refinery complex along the Houston Ship Channel. College students from nearby University of Houston and Rice University alsofind it convenient for travel to destinations in Texas and the surrounding region. Southwest's newly scheduled non-stop international flights to popular Caribbean vacation destinations is expected to greatly expand that traffic.
Financed by SW Airlines, the new international passenger terminal was completed in 2016. It added additional loading gates, customs facilities and a new parking garage.
Southwest Airlines began international flights to Aruba from Houston Hobby International Airport on May 9, 2015 and now provides service to an expanded list of international destinations."
More information about Hobby can also be found on
Wikipedia.