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HOUSTON - George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) now leads the nation's airports in destinations and number of weekly nonstop flights to Mexico. In the past year, Houston has added 138 weekly non-stop flights and nine Mexican cities to its growing international air travel portfolio.
Thirty Mexico destinations are served by IAH, Los Angeles (LAX) has 20, Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) serves 13 and Miami (MIA) with four. There are 948 nonstop weekly departures to Mexican cities at IAH. By comparison, LAX has 682, DFW has 474 and Miami 220.
Over 2.6 million people traveled to and from Mexico in 2004, surpassing the old record of 2.2 million - an increase of 19.3 percent. Continental Express's passenger service to Mexico alone was up by 60.7 percent. The new Mexico destinations added in the past year are Ciudad del Carmen, Manzanillo, Monclova, Puebla, Oaxaca, Toluca, Durango, Huatulco and Queretaro.
“Houston is attaining increasing importance as a hub of international travel, and Mexico passengers are leading the way for other regions of the world,” said Rick Vacar, Houston Airport System director. “We recently opened a new $440 million International Airlines Building that doubles our capacity to process international flights because of this increasing demand.”
Houston's growing primacy as Mexico's United States gateway is mirrored by the record number of international passengers served at IAH. In 2004, international passengers levels reached a record 6.4 million - an increase of 13.7 percent.
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The Houston Airport System served more than 44.8 million passengers in 2004. It is the 4th-largest multi-airport system in the U.S. and the 6th-largest in the world. Bush Intercontinental is the world's 12th-busiest airport. For more information, visit www.houstonairportsystem.org.
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