HTOWN LIVE Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I'm responding to reports from earlier today: Thanks for keeping everything on topic HAIFers and bringing order even when mods are not around! You guys are the best! Please try to remain civil when corralling those who get off track. Unfortunately, I have nothing to offer on the international terminal at Hobby Airport and have not read entire thread: do we know what it will look like? Architects? Yes, it’s modeled after the international terminals at the booming Atlanta and Dallas airports, which connect to the city-wide world class mass transit/rail systems in those cities. The politicians and communities there worked intelligently together in unity (as they should). I can’t imagine why Houston won’t go accordingly. What’s stopping it? It’s the city with no limits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 b: from culturemap: http://www.houhobby.com/plans/ I've seen some more recent stuff here and there, but it all seems consistent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 The master plan shows another international wing on the opposite side, but idk the starting date. Maybe they'll bump it up if it becomes apparent that 5 won't be enough. According to the Master Plan, the international arrivals concourse currently under construction can be expanded to a total of 12 gates. The wing on the opposite side of the terminal is beyond the master plan time horizon (i.e., beyond 2030) and there is no indication that it is planned to be for an international concourse (but as it is beyond the master plan horizon, they are probably not even attempting to identify it as either international or domestic). Further info from the Master Plan: They anticipate needing 10 international arrival gates by 2020, and 12 by 2030. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Corgan's website has some nice renderings of the Hobby International terminal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Nice job Well I will say it's a little bit to simple, but at least it's sleek and is very open with what seems to be a good amount of tall spaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asubrt Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 According to the Master Plan, the international arrivals concourse currently under construction can be expanded to a total of 12 gates. The wing on the opposite side of the terminal is beyond the master plan time horizon (i.e., beyond 2030) and there is no indication that it is planned to be for an international concourse (but as it is beyond the master plan horizon, they are probably not even attempting to identify it as either international or domestic). Further info from the Master Plan: They anticipate needing 10 international arrival gates by 2020, and 12 by 2030. Thanks for the info. 10 gates seems a little more in line with what I was expecting, but I guess it will take a few years for them to grow the service. I'm not sure how many international 737 departures per day they can do per gate, but I remember them saying that they would have about 25 total, which would be 5 per gate. Mexico City and Cancun will probably require at least 5 departures per day each not too long after launch, which leaves only 15 flights per day to all other cities combined. Not to mention that the fifth gate is supposed to be common use, so other carriers may use up some of those slots (not sure what airlines will use them, but I imagine some Mexican low cost carriers may launch a route or two, plus VivaAerobus may come over from IAH). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 It's stupid they couldn't start international flights immediately there's technically nothing wrong with the current terminal besides missing a customs facility but it was part of the deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 This rendering is clearly based in fantasy land! There's no way the TSA would be operating that efficiently. They need to add at least 200 more people to the line, and decrease the amount of functioning x-ray scanners to about 2... maybe 3. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Will we see smaller carriers join the terminal (fun jet, etc.)? Or is this exclusively southwest?The renderings look good. The huge windows are a big plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernz Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 It's stupid they couldn't start international flights immediately there's technically nothing wrong with the current terminal besides missing a customs facility but it was part of the deal.?? You just answered your issue. They cannot start int'l flights immediately without a customs (and more importantly, immigration) facility. Why is it stupid then? Technically, there's everything wrong with the current terminal as far as international flights are concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontexasjack Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 What this will really be good for is when IAH starts to really get underway with massive renovations and rebuild. So is this terminal going to be for small nations or nations in this hemisphere? I would expect flights solely to and from the Americas out of Hobby's international terminal. Southwest's 737-800's will be the international workhorses for this airport, and their maximum range with decent passenger count and accompanying cargo is northern South America (e.g. Bogota, Quito). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Also,I believe that international departing flights can/will depart from any of the gates. Just arriving international flights must use the international terminal. So, arriving aircraft can be moved to other gates to reboard. This way, each of the five gates could handle significantly more arriving flights per day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 ?? You just answered your issue. They cannot start int'l flights immediately without a customs (and more importantly, immigration) facility. Why is it stupid then? Technically, there's everything wrong with the current terminal as far as international flights are concerned.Creating a customs facility does not require a new terminal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Will we see smaller carriers join the terminal (fun jet, etc.)? Or is this exclusively southwest?The renderings look good. The huge windows are a big plus.I think southwest has 4 of the 5 gates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Slick. I don't think that SWA is plopping down hundreds of millions of dollars if it wasn't necessary. Do you? International arrival passengers have to be separated and routed to a immigration and customs facility. How would you do that, without rebuilding the current terminal? Adding 5 new gates, where this can be done, accomplishes this, in addition it adds the needed capacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Slick. I don't think that SWA is plopping down hundreds of millions of dollars if it wasn't necessary. Do you? International arrival passengers have to be separated and routed to a immigration and customs facility. How would you do that, without rebuilding the current terminal? Adding 5 new gates, where this can be done, accomplishes this, in addition it adds the needed capacity.It was part of the deal. There are plenty of terminals globally where customs facilities are built later for a few million to handle international flights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernz Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 It was part of the deal. There are plenty of terminals globally where customs facilities are built later for a few million to handle international flights.You can build a facility or you can build a terminal, but the fact is a new building is needed to house the customs and immigration functions. While you're at it, you might as well build the additional gates you need for those new international flights, unless you are willing to drop existing national routes, because there are no idle gates in that airport. And if you did that, you would have a terrible experience because of the retrofit needed to segregate those existing gates for international travelers.Not sure what 'deal' you are talking about, but Southwest is footing the bill for the most part. I'm sure they looked at the best value while keeping their customers happy. They are a profitable company for a reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativehoustonion Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I do not think 5 gates is enough for Southwest to really make a presence. Just got back from Playa del Carmen flew out of Cancun. They built a very nice International Terminal with 26 gates terminal 3. United had the most flights then any other carrier. A flight almost every hour to Houston, also Denver, Chicago, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco. The CEO of Southwest said it will take them five years to make their presence know in Latin America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 You can build a facility or you can build a terminal, but the fact is a new building is needed to house the customs and immigration functions. While you're at it, you might as well build the additional gates you need for those new international flights, unless you are willing to drop existing national routes, because there are no idle gates in that airport. And if you did that, you would have a terrible experience because of the retrofit needed to segregate those existing gates for international travelers.Not sure what 'deal' you are talking about, but Southwest is footing the bill for the most part. I'm sure they looked at the best value while keeping their customers happy. They are a profitable company for a reason.Explain airports like Austin and San Antonio where there is no segregation of outgoing passengers and no separate building just for customs that I know of for incoming international passengers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Because they were designed that way, or retrofitted accordingly. And are the only commercial airports in those cities. Trying to understand your point. Surely you have travelled internationally and understand this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Because they were designed that way, or retrofitted accordingly. And are the only commercial airports in those cities. Trying to understand your point. Surely you have travelled internationally and understand this.I do. My point was it would've been much cheaper to retrofit hobby then build a new terminal. But I believe the terms of the deal required a new terminal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernz Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Explain airports like Austin and San Antonio where there is no segregation of outgoing passengers and no separate building just for customs that I know of for incoming international passengers.Not familiar with SA, but Austin was designed as an international terminal, and does include segregation of passengers as well an immigration facility. The segregation is for incoming passengers only, not outgoing. When international passengers come in, they are in 'international' territory until they clear immigration. They are not allowed to mingle with the rest of the population in the airport. The corridors between the gates and the immigration area, as well as the entire immigration area, are highly secure areas. In terminals whith both national and international passengers (such as Austin or IAH terminal E), there are corridors between gates designated for international travel and the rest of the terminal. You have no option but to go to the immigration area once you come off the plane. In terminals with only international travel, the terminal is open like any other terminal, but the only way out is thru immigration. The only way around it is for travelers coming from countries such as Canada ( I think a handful other countries have similar deals). In Canada, passengers coming to the US actually clear immigration and customs in the outgoing airports. The US government actually operates out of these foreign airports. In that case, planes from those airports can come into any airport in the US. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 How would you propose to handle the additional passenger traffic that international flights will generate? This international gateway was southwest's idea. And, Southwest is not a freespending, cash wielding company. I am sure that it was done as efficiently as possible. What do you think it would cost to Build a C&I Facility, Doubledeck, or Double Skin for international arrival passenger traffic and expand the boomerang to accommodate additional aircraft? Sounds more expensive, less efficient, clumsy and more expensive to me. In fact, nothing about the Additional terminal seems extravagant or unnecessary. Important qualities of both SWA and City of Houston. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky-guy Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 You said "more expensive" twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I've looked on the TSA & United websites, and didn't find the answer I was looking for, so I figured I'd try here.I'll be flying to NYC with the mother unit in about 2 weeks. I know all I need is my DL since I'm a citizen and it's a domestic flight. The mother unit is not a citizen, she is a resident alien. Does she need to bring her passport and alien card or will her DL suffice? I figured she should bring them just in case... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Driver's license, and also carry the Green Card just for comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 And of course make sure the name is an exact match between the reservation/boarding pass and whatever ID is carried. The green card is a good idea - it certainly can't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Aren't green card holders supposed to carry it with them at all times (8USC1304(e)), but I am not a lawyer, and may have misread this)? The green card is acceptable ID for TSA http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/acceptable-ids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Passport is good enough think of all the tourists that take domestic flights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) Talk about an old thread - but it's the only "drone" topic I found.....I just saw a drone flying around 59 and downtown....people were all pointing up watching it buzz around....I didn't have my phone with me so no pic unfortunately... Edited September 24, 2014 by HoustonMidtown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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