NEWS -May 30, 2012
Southwest Airlines Expansion APPROVED!

Houston City Council today approved permits that will allow Southwest Airlines to build additional passender terminals and custom facilities to accomodate international air traffic at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport.

Southwest will still have to obtain permits from the FAA, but assuming that the permits are issued, international flights from Hobby should begin in 2015.

The name of Hobby Airport is also to be officially changed to William P. Hobby International Airport, once the new airport terminal facilities are complete and international flights begin.

The expansion of Hobby Airport's flight schedules to include international and overseas flights has been strongly protested by United Airlines, which says that the move will harm their existing international business at nearby George Bush Intercontinental Airport.  United has invested heavily in terminal and aircraft support facilities at Houston's Bush airport, which currently has no other competing internationl airport in the Houston Metro area.