Houston Intercontinental Airport Guide: United’s Texas Hub
Houston Intercontinental Airport is United's gateway to Latin America, with five runways and five terminals. Routes, history, access and spotting explained.
By The Aviation Hub
6 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
George Bush Intercontinental Airport sits about 23 miles (37 km) north of downtown Houston, Texas, and handled roughly 48 million passengers in 2025. It is the larger of the city’s two commercial airports and the main United Airlines hub for Latin America. Houston Intercontinental Airport, as most locals and pilots still call it, spreads across more than 10,000 acres with five runways and five terminals. The field’s energy industry traffic and its network into Mexico and Central America give it a character unlike any other American hub.
Houston Intercontinental Airport at a Glance
The IATA code IAH stands for Intercontinental Airport of Houston, and the ICAO code is KIAH. The airport sits at 30 metres (97 feet) above sea level on flat coastal plain between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69. Five runways serve five terminals with 116 gates between them. The Houston Airport System, a department of the City of Houston, owns and operates the field.
Traffic in 2025 reached about 48.1 million passengers, marginally down on the 48.4 million of 2024. United Airlines is overwhelmingly the largest carrier and runs one of its biggest hubs here. Spirit Airlines, which had built a base at the airport, ceased operations in May 2026, leaving United as the sole hub carrier. Terminal maps and parking rates are on the airport’s official website.
How Houston’s Airport Came to Be
By the 1950s Houston’s Hobby Airport was running out of room. In 1957 a group of local businessmen quietly bought land north of the city through a holding company called Jet Era Ranch. A typing error turned the name into Jetero, and the site was known by that name for years. The city took over the land and opened Houston Intercontinental Airport in June 1969 with two terminals, A and B.
Terminal C opened in 1981 as Continental Airlines built the field into its primary hub. The Mickey Leland International Airlines Building, now Terminal D, followed in 1990 and was named after the Houston congressman killed in a plane crash in Ethiopia. In 1997 the city council renamed the whole airport after former president George H. W. Bush, a long time Houston resident.
Terminal E opened in 2003 and became Continental’s international wing. The Continental and United merger in 2010 passed the hub to United, which has since concentrated its Latin American flying here. Houston Intercontinental Airport also became home to more than 130 public artworks, including a Dale Chihuly glass installation in Terminal C.
Runways at Houston Intercontinental Airport
Five runways in three alignments give the field flexibility in any wind. Runway 15L/33R is the longest at 3,658 metres (12,001 feet), concrete, and handles heavy long haul departures. Its parallel, Runway 15R/33L, measures 3,048 metres (10,000 feet), and its 2002 extension was the first in the world to use a crushed concrete base bound with lime, cement and fly ash.
Three east to west runways carry most of the daily traffic. Runway 09/27 measures 3,048 metres (10,000 feet). Runway 08R/26L measures 2,866 metres (9,402 feet) and Runway 08L/26R is 2,743 metres (9,000 feet). All five are 46 metres wide. The usual pattern puts arrivals on the 26s and 27 and departures on 15L in southerly flow, while northerly winds after cold fronts flip operations to the 08s and 33s.
The runway layout allows triple simultaneous approaches in good weather, which keeps delays low for an airport of its size. Gulf Coast thunderstorms are the main disruptor. Notable accidents include the 1991 loss of Continental Express Flight 2574 on approach after a maintenance error and the 2019 crash of Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, in Trinity Bay east of the airport.
Terminals and Airlines
Terminal A hosts most domestic carriers other than United, including American, Delta, Alaska, Frontier and JetBlue, across 21 gates. Terminal B is United Express territory. Its 26 gate south concourse opened in 2013 and a 22 gate north concourse, part of United’s 2 billion dollar transformation of the building, opens in phases from autumn 2026. Terminal C is United’s mainline domestic home.
Terminal D, the Mickey Leland International Terminal, handles most foreign carriers, among them British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, Emirates, Qatar Airways, EVA Air, Turkish Airlines and ANA. It has gates sized for the Airbus A380, which Emirates and Lufthansa have used. Terminal E is United’s international building, and in March 2026 the foreign airlines began moving their check in there as Terminals D and E merge.
Star Alliance dominates Houston Intercontinental Airport through United and its partners, while oneworld and SkyTeam carriers share Terminal D. The Skyway automated people mover connects every terminal airside, and a separate landside subway links the terminals with the on site Marriott hotel every three minutes.
Routes and Destinations
Chicago O’Hare, Denver and Los Angeles lead the domestic rankings, followed by the other United hubs and the big Texas and Florida cities. United uses the field as its southern connecting point, so almost every United domestic destination is reachable nonstop.
Internationally, Mexico City, Cancun and San Salvador are the busiest routes. Houston Intercontinental Airport has one of the widest Mexican networks of any American hub, along with the capitals of Central America, Bogota, Lima, Quito, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. Long haul routes reach London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Istanbul, Doha, Dubai, Tokyo Narita, Sydney and Auckland. ITA Airways launched Rome in May 2026.
The longest nonstop is Sydney with United, around 8,600 miles (13,800 km). Energy industry traffic shaped the route map for decades, although the nonstop links to Africa, including United’s Lagos service, have now ended. Cargo is significant, with United, FedEx, UPS and a number of foreign freighter operators using the airport.
Getting to and from Houston Intercontinental Airport
Public transport is limited by Houston standards of car dependence. METRO Route 102 is a local bus to downtown with 15 minute weekday headways and a journey of about an hour. Route 500 IAH Downtown Direct runs every 30 minutes and, since February 2026, continues to Hobby Airport. The local fare of 1.25 dollars (around £1) on Route 102 makes it the cheapest sensible option, while Route 500 costs 4.50 dollars.
By road, Interstate 69, Beltway 8 and the Hardy Toll Road all reach the airport, with Will Clayton Parkway providing the final approach. Downtown is 30 to 45 minutes by car outside rush hour. A taxi costs around 60 dollars (roughly £47) and ride share is slightly cheaper. Parking ranges from the ecopark lots to covered garages beside each terminal.
Spotting and Photography
The Marriott hotel between Terminals B and C overlooks the activity around the terminals, and the Terminal C garage roof gives views over the C, D and E ramps and Runway 8R/26L. Inside, the Terminal D and E concourses give wide views of international wide bodies. The Skyway train provides moving views of the aprons.
Outside the fence, Lee Road on the east side sits beneath the 26 and 27 approaches used in southerly flow, and the hill at the end of Rankin Road on the western boundary overlooks departures on 15L and 15R. The grass verges near the 08 thresholds on the west side work when the wind swings north. Houston light is harsh in summer and best early or late in the day. Airport police patrol regularly, so stay on public land, keep clear of fences and be ready to explain what you are doing.
What Comes Next
The 1.3 billion dollar IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program, under way since 2020, is merging Terminals D and E into a single Mickey Leland International Terminal with a new Pier D West and a central processor. United’s Terminal B transformation adds 22 gates. Together these projects lift international capacity substantially without touching the runways.
Spirit’s exit leaves United even more dominant, and the carrier plans more Latin American and transpacific flying. Houston Intercontinental Airport will remain the United States’ main door to Mexico and Central America for the foreseeable future. See how it ranks on our Airports of the World map.
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