Houston Hobby airport reopens runway after months-long improvement project

William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) has reopened Runway 4-22 after closing it for maintenance in May. It was reopened on 23rd December, just before Christmas.

Hobby is the second airport in Houston and is mostly served by Southwest Airlines. In 2023, two private aircraft collided at Houston Hobby.

No one was injured, but the airport suspended operations for a few hours. The aircraft hit each other on the intersecting runways at one plane was taking off and the other was landing.

In February 2023, a Honda HA-420 HondaJet had a runway excursion at the airport .

According to the Houston Chronicle, William P. Hobby Airport (also called Houston Hobby Airport ) has reopened Runway 4-22 (one of its three runways) after it was closed to carry out maintenance.

The airport has a total of three runways, and they are being modernized as part of a larger multi-phase project. Runway 4-22 is 7,602 feet long and 150 feet wide at its lowest approach.

Now the next phase of the project is expected to start in 2025 and Runway 13R-31L will close for construction works.

"Runway 4-22 — one of the airport's three runways — closed earlier this year as a part of the multi-phase project to update the runway and taxiway intersections for a more modern design, according to the Houston Airport System's new release. The taxiways and runways will see changes to takeoff or landing directions and LED lighting to enhance visibility and energy efficiency. The runway reopened Monday, just before Christmas, after the removal of the non-standard intersection of Runway 4-22 and Taxiway K1." - Houston Chronicle

The upgrades are part of an effort to ensure the airport meets modern FAA standards and to create a safer airfield for flight operations.

The project was funded by the FAA after the federal agency awarded the Houston Airport System over $40 million in Airport Improvement Program grants.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the funding was intended to be used to reconstruct taxiways and removing Runway 17-35. The FAA wants to remove runway incursion hotspots not only at Hobby, but also around the country.

Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System, said in a statement, "The reopening of Runway 4-22, just as the December holiday travel season reaches its peak, is a testament to the teamwork between Houston Airports and the FAA to modernize and enhance the airfield at Houston’s first commercial airport. These improvements ensure Houston’s airports remain healthy economic engines as demand for air travel grows."

Houston Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport and was the city's main commercial airport until George Bush International Airport (previously Houston Intercontinental Airport) opened in 1969.

After that airport opened, Houston Hobby was closed. However, it was reopened a few years later as a secondary airport focused on domestic flights and private aviation ( Hobby remains heavily used by private aviation ). It is located seven miles from downtown Houston.

Today Hobby is an international airport and an operating base for Southwest Airlines (there are a few leisure flights to the greater Caribbean region ).

Houston Hobby is one of the largest airports in Southwest's network (with all of the top ten busiest routes from Hobby being operated by Southwest).

In fact, Southwest accounts for around 93% of the passengers at Hobby (Delta, Envoy Air, Frontier, and Allegiant also maintain a presence there).

In 2022, William P. Hobby Airport became the only 5-Star-rated airport in the state of Texas and North America after it won 5-Star Airport status in the Skytrax World Airport Star Rating for 2022.

The Houston Airport System is a three-airport system made up of George Bush Intercontinental Airport (which has 25 passenger airilines and over 180 non-stop destinations), William P. Hobby Airport (which has 7 passenger airlines and over 81 destinations), and Elington Airport/Houston Spaceport (which supports NASA operations).

George Bush served around 46 million passengers in 2023 while Hobby served around 14 million.