page_title: George Bush Intercontinental Airport
section_title: Recent airline and airport developments:  2000 to the present day
hierarchical_section_title: George Bush Intercontinental Airport / History / Recent airline and airport developments:  2000 to the present day
caption_attribution_description: English: A typical Terminal D aircraft lineup, including Air France, British Airways, KLM, and Lufthansa Español: Un cartel típico en la Terminal D que expone a Air France, British Airways, KLM y Lufthansa. Deutsch: Flugzeuge von KLM, British Airways, Air France und der Lufthansa am Terminal D des George Bush Intercontinental Airport
context_page_description: George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, under class B airspace, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about 23 miles 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 a large number of domestic destinations, and is the second busiest airport in Texas. The airport, originally named "Houston Intercontinental Airport", was later renamed after George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States.
  In 2019, the airport served 45,264,059 passengers, making it the 47th busiest airport in the world, and the 14th busiest airport in the United States. IAH covers 10,000 acres of land and has five runways.
  Houston Intercontinental is the second largest passenger hub for United Airlines behind Chicago–O'Hare. Under operations as United Express, ExpressJet, Mesa Airlines, Republic Airways, and SkyWest Airlines operate hub operations from IAH.
context_section_description: As Houston was not an approved gateway for USA-London Heathrow flights under the Bermuda II Agreement, Continental Airlines and British Airways flew their London services to Gatwick Airport. British Airways, keen to allow its passengers access to connections at its larger Heathrow Airport hub, subsequently flew various routing from Houston to Heathrow, via a gateway approved technical stop, allowing its Houston originating flights to land at Heathrow. While keeping a daily Houston-Gatwick flight, BA, for its second daily departure to London operated Houston-Washington Dulles International Airport-London Heathrow, switching the technical stop to O'Hare International Airport and finally to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. In March 2008, the Bermuda II agreement was replaced with the EU-US Open Skies Agreement, allowing Continental Airlines and British Airways to switch its London services from Houston to Heathrow Airport that summer. Currently, BA operates double-daily flights to London's Heathrow Airport with a Boeing 777, Boeing 747, and Boeing 787 service.
  Other airlines that served Houston Intercontinental were Aviacsa, America West Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Canadian Airlines, China Airlines, Comair, Grand Airways, Gulf Air, Martinair, Northwest Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, PrivatAir operating on behalf of KLM and later SAS, Royal Jordanian (then called ALIA), SeaPort Airlines, South African Airways, Southwest Airlines, UltrAir and World Airways.
  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 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land owned by Houston Airport System (HAS) on the grounds of Bush Airport. Midway planned to develop a travel center for the airport's rental car facility. The city dictated 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 in the development. Beyond the required buildings, the developer planned to add an office facility of between 20,000 and 40,000 square feet (1,900 and 3,700 m²) and additional retail space.
  In 2011, Continental Airlines began Boeing 777-200ER services to Lagos, Nigeria; this was the airport's first non-stop flight to the African continent. In May 2016, United Airlines ended the Houston-Lagos service citing the inability to repatriate revenue sold locally in Nigerian currency. South African Airways previously operated non-stop Boeing 747SP services in 1983 between Houston 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. Continental was also planning to commence non-stop Boeing 787 services to Auckland in New Zealand but these plans 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 Dreamliner. Its 787s were put to use on other international routes, however, including Houston-London and United's then new Houston-Lagos non-stop flights. The Houston-Auckland non-stop route was then begun by Air New Zealand using a Boeing 777-200ER. In 2014, United Airlines added a second daily flight to Tokyo and new routes to Munich, Germany; Santiago, Chile; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and it restarted the Aruba route, which had been canceled in 2012.
  Houston became the sixth U.S. city to have Airbus A380 services when Lufthansa transitioned its Houston-Frankfurt route from a Boeing 747-400 to an A380 on August 1, 2012.
  On July 11, 2013, Air China began non-stop flights from Houston to Beijing–Capital using a Boeing 777-300ER. This became the airport's first non-stop route to
caption: A typical lineup at Terminal D showing Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways and KLM aircraft
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