Harvey, oil turndown ground air traffic spike
The lows of a devastating hurricane and lingering oil-price slump mixed with the highs of hosting Super Bowl LI and the Astros winning the World Series prompted Houston Airport System Director Mario Diaz to use “A Tale of Two Cities” when describing 2017.
“To paraphrase Dickens: This year was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Diaz told more than 400 people attending the Greater Houston Partnership State of the Airports on Friday. “... We can all think of numerous ways in which this passage reflects Houston.”
Houston’s airports were spotlighted as some 190,000 travelers passed through its gates the day after Super Bowl LI. But lingering effects from the oil-price slump slowed the city’s stream of business travelers. Many of those who do fly aren’t in premium seats anymore.
The Houston Airport System is set to see 53 million passengers
this year, down from 54.5 million last year. Diaz said flights disrupted by Hurricane Harvey and the impact to business connections following the storm accounted for most of the reduction in travelers. Prior to the storm, Houston’s airports had about a 2 percent increase in traffic.
Diaz also detailed some of the year’s advances at Bush Intercontinental, Hobby and Ellington airports.
Bush Intercontinental saw the opening of United Airlines’ $277 million Terminal C North. Hobby Airport continued benefiting from the international concourse that Southwest Airlines opened in October 2015. Hobby has averaged 800,000 new international passengers per year since that opening.
“The new business came at a time when the Houston economy began to experience that dip we discussed,” Diaz said. “But the new service at Hobby provided some resiliency for us and delivered on the bottom line through the market fluctuation.”
Ellington Airport celebrated its 100th anniversary. Despite a blip in attracting aerospace companies to its spaceport — Blue Origin chose Huntsville, Ala., instead of Houston for a rocket-engine manufacturing facility — Ellington continues moving forward with its plans. A new air traffic control tower will have space for future mission control operations.
Bob Harvey, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, said advances at Ellington have been featured prominently in recent proposals to attract new businesses to Houston.
Looking forward, Diaz discussed plans to demolish and rebuild the Mickey Leland International Terminal and its surroundings. He said airport officials have begun the project’s design phase.
After a few “starts and stops,” including having to redo the bidding process for some of the work contracts after city council expressed concerns, the Airport System plans to open the rebuilt terminal by 2021, Diaz said.
Diaz said the terminal will have 12 gates with the capacity to accommodate the wide-body Airbus A380 aircraft. Diaz also said that passenger traffic was trending in the right direction, and he expressed optimism for Houston’s recovering economy.
“A tale of two cities?” he asked. “Or is it maybe just a tale of one of America’s greatest cities demonstrating determination, resilience and courage?”