George Bush Intercontinental Airport: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

George Bush Intercontinental Airport is twenty miles north of Downtown Houston, Texas, USA.

The airport is Texas' second largest air facility, after the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

It is located between Interstate 45 and Highway 59, inside the Houston city limits in the Aldine area, and is adjacent to Humble.

Bush Intercontinental has flights to other parts of the United States, as well as to Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

George Bush Intercontinental, named after George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States and father of the current President George W. Bush, is the hub of Continental Airlines, and, because of its closeness to their hubs in Dallas, both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines also keep a large presence there. However, the only city that Southwest serves with nonstop flights from Bush Intercontinental is Dallas; all other Southwest service from Houston is out of William P. Hobby Airport. A long list of Texas, domestic, and international cities are served non stop from this airport.

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 May 1990, and the new Terminal E was partially opened on June 3, 2003. The rest of terminal E opened on January 7, 2004. A new Federal Inspection Service (FIS) building will be completed in January 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 terminals 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 is 10,000 acres (40 km²) large. It is the 9th busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 14th busiest worldwide.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport has five terminals.

Terminal A

• Air Canada (Calgary)
• Air Canada Jazz (Toronto Pearson)
• American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, Chicago O'Hare)
• American Eagle (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• America West (Phoenix)
• Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection (Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth)
• Chautauqua Airlines dba Delta Connection (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• Comair dba Delta Connection (Atlanta, Cincinnati)
• Delta Airlines (Atlanta, Salt Lake City)
• Frontier Airlines (Denver)
• MidAtlantic Airways dba US Airways Express (Philadelphia)
• Southwest Airlines (Dallas/Love)
• US Airways (Charlotte, Pittsburgh)
• United Airlines (Denver, Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco)

• Continental Express (Flights to the United States)
• Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Memphis)
• Skywest dba Continental Connection (Abilene TX, Beaumont, College Station, Monroe LA, San Angelo, Tyler TX, Victoria TX, Waco)

(Lewis W. Cutrer Terminal C)

• Continental Airlines
  • Flights to the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico

• Aeroméxico (Mexico City)
• Air France (Paris)
• Air Jamaica (Montego Bay)
• Aviacsa (Monterrey, Mexico City)
• British Airways (London Gatwick, London Heathrow via Chicago O'Hare)
• Cayman Airways (Grand Cayman)
• China Airlines (Taipei via Seattle)
• Continental Airlines - International Arrivals, will move to Terminal E's side of the new FIS Facility in January 2005
• Grupo TACA (Belize City)
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
• Pakistan International Airlines (Karachi via Manchester UK and via Manchester UK and Lahore)

• Continental Airlines - Mexico, Latin America, Europe, and Japan, International Arrivals will move here in January 2005
• Continental Express - Mexico

• Aeropak
• Airborne Express
• Air France Cargo
• American International Airways
• BAX Global
• British Airways Cargo
• Burlington Air Express
• Cargolux
• Continental Cargo
• DHL
• Emery Worldwide
• FedEx
• Frontier Cargo
• KHI
• KLM Cargo
• LanChile Cargo
• Lufthansa Cargo
• Martinair
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• UPS

In the past, this airport was also served by Royal Jordanian and South African Airways.

• On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, which was flying on a Houston-Dallas-Toronto route, made an emergency landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Kentucky; about half of the passengers died of smoke and fire.