Southwest Airlines will spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to upgrade and expand its terminal at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper.
While Houston Hobby has been a United Airlines stronghold,
Southwest has been looking to have more of a presence in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city by population behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
In fact, Southwest has long had a historical presence in Houston since its inception - it was one of three cities the airline flew to on its first day of service on June 18, 1971.
Last year, Southwest relaunched its service at Houston's Buch Intercontinental Airport. Now it turns its attention to Hobby.
The project to add seven more gates at Hobby - six for Southwest itself for domestic flights and one to be used for another airline chosen by the Houston Airport System - will take five years and cost $250 million.
"[Southwest has] many options when it comes to future growth across their network," said Jim Szczesniak, chief operating officer for Houston Airports. "We are very excited that they are committed to expanding at Hobby Airport, the first and only 5-Star rated airport in North America, according to Skytrax."
"While we are in the very early stages of the project, we appreciate the ongoing support from the city of Houston, and the team at [Houston Airport System], as we embark on this next phase in our more than 50-year partnership," Dan Landson, spokesperson for Southwest Airlines, said.
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