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George Bush Intercontinental Airport, is the main international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, under class B airspace, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Located about north of Downtown Houston,〔 between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 with direct access to the Hardy Toll Road expressway, George Bush Intercontinental Airport has scheduled flights to domestic and international destinations. The airport is named after George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States.〔 George Bush Intercontinental Airport served 40,187,442 passengers in 2011 making the airport the tenth busiest for total passengers in North America. In 2006, the airport was named the fastest-growing of the top ten airports in the United States by the United States Department of Transportation. Houston Bush Intercontinental is the largest passenger carrying hub for United Airlines carrying 16.6 million passengers annually with an average of 45,413 passengers daily. The airport also serves as a focus city for Spirit Airlines. == History == The site for Bush Intercontinental Airport was originally purchased by a group of Houston businessmen in 1957 to preserve the site until the city of Houston could formulate a plan for a second airport, supplanting what was then known as Houston Municipal Airport (later renamed William P. Hobby Airport). The holding company for the land was named the Jet Era Ranch Corporation, but a typographical error transformed the words "Jet Era" into "Jetero" and the airport site subsequently became known as the Jetero airport site. Although the name Jetero was no longer used in official planning documents after 1961, the eastern entrance to the airport was named Jetero Boulevard. Most of Jetero Boulevard was subsequently renamed Will Clayton Parkway. The City of Houston annexed the Bush Airport area in 1965. This annexation, along with the 1965 annexations of the Bayport area, the Fondren Road area, and an area west of Sharpstown, resulted in a total gain of of land for the city limits. Houston Intercontinental Airport, which was the original name for IAH, opened in June 1969.〔Intercontinental Airport" ''Houston Airport System''〕 All scheduled passenger airline service formerly operated from William P. Hobby Airport moved to Intercontinental upon the airport's completion. Hobby remained open as a general aviation airport and was once again used for scheduled passenger airline flights two years later when Southwest Airlines initiated intrastate jet service between Hobby and Dallas Love Field in 1971. Houston Intercontinental had been scheduled to open in 1967, but design changes regarding the terminals created cost overruns and construction delays. The prime contractor, R.F. Ball Construction of San Antonio, sued the city of Houston for $11 million in damages, but assistant city attorney Joseph Guy Rollins, Jr. successfully defended the municipality on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. At the time of the opening of IAH in 1969, domestic scheduled passenger airline service was being operated by American Airlines, Braniff International Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines and Houston-based Texas International Airlines which had formerly operated as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa).〔June 1, 1969 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Houston flight schedules〕 International service at this time was being flown by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) with ten nonstop flights a week operated with Boeing 707 jetliners to Mexico City, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operating Douglas DC-8 jets four days a week to Amsterdam via an intermediate stop in Montreal, Braniff International with Boeing 727 service several times a week to Panama City, Panama and Aeronaves de Mexico (now Aeromexico) flying Douglas DC-9 jets to Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco and Mexico City several days a week.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pan American World Airways system timetables )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Braniff International Airways system timetables )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=June 15, 1969 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=June 1, 1969 )〕 Texas International was also operating direct, no change of plane service to Mexico at this time with Douglas DC-9 jet service to Monterrey and Convair 600 turboprop flights to Tampico and Veracruz.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=July 1, 1970 )〕 KLM Royal Dutch introduced Boeing 747 service in 1971 and by 1974 Air France was operating four nonstop Boeing 747 flights a week to both Paris and Mexico City.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=May 15, 1971 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=April 1, 1974 )〕 Also in 1974, Continental and National were operating McDonnell Douglas DC-10 wide body jetliners into IAH while Delta was flying Lockheed L-1011 TriStar wide body jets with both types being operated on respective domestic routes from the airport by these airlines.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=April 1, 1974 )〕 By the late 1970s, Cayman Airways had begun nonstop service between Grand Cayman in the Caribbean and Intercontinental with stretched British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 twin jets.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=December 15, 1979 )〕 Cayman Airways served the airport for many years, operating a variety of aircraft including Boeing 727-200, 737-200, 737-300, 737-400 and Douglas DC-8 jetliners into IAH in addition to the BAC One-Eleven.〔http://www.departed flights.com, Official Airline Guide (OAG) editions, Houston (IAH) flight schedules〕 By July 1983, the number of domestic and international air carriers serving Intercontinental had grown substantially. American, Continental, Delta and Eastern had been joined by Piedmont Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Trans World Airlines (TWA), United Airlines, USAir and Western Airlines.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=July 1, 1983 )〕 Western was operating daily McDonnell Douglas DC-10 wide body jet service nonstop to Salt Lake City at this time with this flight also offering direct one stop service to Anchorage.〔http://www.departedflights.com, July 1, 1983 Official Airline Guide (OAG)〕 International service was being operated by Air Canada, Aviateca, British Caledonian Airways, Continental Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, SAHSA, South African Airways, TACA (now Avianca El Salvador) and VIASA in addition to Pan Am, KLM Royal Dutch, Air France, Aeromexico and Cayman Airways.〔(【引用サイトリンク】date=July 1, 1983 )〕 Several commuter and regional airlines were also operating passenger service at this time from IAH including Emerald Air (operating as Pan Am Express), Metro Airlines, Rio Airways and Royale Airlines.〔 Metro Airlines was operating "cross-town" shuttle service with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops with up to seventeen round trip flights a day between IAH and the Clear Lake City STOLport located near the NASA Johnson Space Center and also up to nine round trip flights a day between the airport and Sugar Land Regional Airport as well as other flights to regional destinations in Texas and Louisiana.〔 In addition, at this same time the airport had scheduled helicopter airline service operated by Executive Helicopters with Bell 206L "Long Ranger" helicopters to four Houston-area heliports with up to 36 round trip flights a day.〔 In the late 1980s, Houston City Council considered a plan to rename the airport after Mickey Leland—an African-American U.S. Congressman who died in an aviation accident in Ethiopia. Instead of renaming the whole airport, the city named Mickey Leland International Arrivals Building, which would later become Mickey Leland Terminal D, after the congressman. In April 1997, Houston City Council unanimously voted to rename the airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport/Houston, after George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States.〔 On August 28, 1990, Continental Airlines agreed to build its maintenance center at George Bush Intercontinental Airport; Continental agreed to do so because the city of Houston agreed to provide city-owned land near the airport so that Continental could build its maintenance facility there. As of 2007, Terminals A and B remain from the original design of the airport. Lewis W. Cutrer Terminal C opened in 1981, the Mickey Leland International Arrivals Building (now called Terminal D) opened in May 1990, and the new Terminal E partially opened on June 3, 2003. The rest of Terminal E opened on January 7, 2004. Terminal D is the arrival point for all international flights arriving into Houston except for United flights, which use Terminal E. Terminal D also held customs and INS until the opening of the new Federal Inspection Service (FIS) building, completed on January 25, 2005. On January 7, 2009, a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 departing Bush Intercontinental was the first U.S. commercial jet to fly on a mix of conventional jet fuel and biofuel. In December 2009 the Houston City Council approved a plan to allow Midway Cos. to develop of land owned by Houston Airport System on the grounds of Bush Airport. Midway plans to develop a travel center for the airport's rental car facility. The city dictated that the developer needed to place a convenience store and gas station facility, a flight information board, a fast casual restaurant, and a sit-down restaurant. Beyond the required buildings, the developer plans to add an office facility between and additional retail; the developer may add a hotel. In 2011 Continental Airlines began Boeing 777-200 service to Lagos, Nigeria; this was the airport's first nonstop flight to the African continent although South African Airways had operated nonstop Boeing 747SP service in 1983 between IAH and Amilcar Cabral International Airport in the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Africa as a refueling stop for its flights between Houston and Johannesburg, South Africa.〔http://www.departedflights.com, July 1, 1983 Worldwide Edition, Official Airline Guide (OAG), Houston (IAH) flight schedules〕 Continental was also planning to commence Boeing 787 service nonstop to Auckland, New Zealand but plans for the Auckland service were cancelled as a reaction to new international flights at Hobby Airport announced by Southwest Airlines. United Airlines—which acquired Continental and had fully integrated it into the United brand by early 2012—had postponed the introduction of this service owing to delays associated with the Boeing 787, but still hasn't begun the service with seven 787 Dreamliners currently in its fleet (as of November 2013). Its 787s have been put to use on other international routes, however, including Houston-London and United's new Houston-Lagos flights. The IAH-Auckland nonstop route has since been announced by Air New Zealand using a Boeing 777-200ER.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=United Hub - United 787 Dreamliner is back in service - News )〕 In 2014, United Airlines added a second daily flight to Tokyo, new routes to Munich, Germany, Santiago, Chile and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and restarted the Aruba route (which had been canceled in 2012). Houston became the sixth U.S. city to have Airbus A380 service when Lufthansa transitioned its Houston-Frankfurt route from a Boeing 747-400 to an A380 service on August 1, 2012. On July 11, 2013, Air China began nonstop flights from Houston to Beijing-Capital using a Boeing 777-300ER. This is the airport's first nonstop route to mainland China. Houston also gained nonstop flights to Turkey when Turkish Airlines launched nonstop service to Istanbul-Atatürk on April 1, 2013. Korean Air commenced nonstop flights from Seoul-Incheon to Houston on May 2, 2014. Among other continental-Asia destinations, Singapore Airlines offers nonstop Boeing 777-300 service between Houston and Moscow with continuing, no change of plane service to its hub in Singapore; Qatar Airways flies a nonstop Houston-Doha route utilizing a Boeing 777-200; and Emirates flies nonstop from Houston to Dubai with the Airbus A380. On March 31, 2014, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced that it would begin nonstop flights between Stavanger, Norway and Houston. This is the first time the airline has opened a route from one of its non-hub cities. The aircraft will be a leased Boeing 737 BBJ from PrivatAir. The aircraft will operate in SAS colors in a 44-seat all business class configuration. SAS subsequently began offering this new service but has now announced these flights will end on October 24, 2015. On April 24, 2014, Spirit Airlines announced new services from Houston, to 6 new domestic destinations, including Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Kansas City, New Orleans and San Diego. In addition, Spirit added seasonal service between Houston and Minneapolis. These new flights bring their total destinations from Houston to 12 locations, which makes Spirit the second largest domestic airline by destinations at Houston's IAH, behind United Airlines. During September 2014, Spirit sought approval from the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to launch service from Houston Intercontinental to Managua, San José, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Cancun, San José del Cabo and Toluca. Spirit Airlines with the addition of the above-mentioned routes has increased Houston Intercontinental Airport's placement from the ninth largest focus city to the fifth largest focus city based upon the number of flights flown per week. Spirit Airlines experienced growth of 123% in weekly flight departures at Houston Intercontinental from August 2014 to August 2015. In 2014, Taiwan-based carrier EVA Air announced that it will launch nonstop flights from Houston to Taipei on June 19, 2015 initially with three flights a week, on the 777-300ER. The frequency will be increased to four times a week starting July 1, 2015. These flights will leave Houston in the early morning, about an hour past midnight. This will mark the first time that nonstop flights will commence between Taipei and any airport in Texas. In addition, All Nippon Airways also announced new 2015 service in 2014 from Narita International Airport. Flights on the 777-300ER began on June 12, 2015, with ANA becoming the first Japanese-based carrier to operate passenger flights into IAH. On June 19, 2014, Emirates announced that it would become the second operator of the Airbus A380 at Bush, upgrading its service from Dubai to Houston from a Boeing 777 to the "Super Jumbo" A380. Service began on December 3, 2014. On September 17, 2014, Frontier Airlines released that they would begin to base aircraft from Bush, for their new Phoenix and San Francisco services, with the possibility of more destinations from Houston to come in the future. In January 2015, United Airlines expressed interest in opening direct flights between Houston, and Havana, Cuba, after President Barack Obama originally announced the change in U.S. policy on Cuba on Dec. 17, as part of a larger deal that secured the release of Alan Gross, an American government subcontractor who was imprisoned on the island for five years. The flights are currently pending approval from the Department of Transportation. On July 16, 2015, the new Eastern Air Lines (2015) announced that it would begin a weekly service to Havana from Houston, in cooperation with HavanaAir Charters utilizing Boeing 737-800 aircraft, beginning on August 12, 2015. The service was announced to have been delayed as of August 11, 2015, with no announcement of a new date. On April 15, 2015, Air New Zealand announced that they would begin nonstop flights from Auckland to Houston with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft beginning December 15, 2015. Houston becomes the first airport in the Americas and fifth in the world to have nonstop flights to all inhabitable continent.〔http://www.qantas.com.au〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Bush Intercontinental Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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