William P. Hobby Airport

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William P. Hobby Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, 7mi from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport and was its primary commercial airport until Houston Intercontinental Airport, now George Bush Intercontinental Airport, opened in 1969. After the opening of Intercontinental, Hobby was closed for several years before it became apparent it needed to be reopened. It became a secondary airport for domestic airline service as well as a regional center for corporate and private aviation.Houston is a focus city for Southwest Airlines, and was the seventh-largest city in Southwest's network as of 2015. Hobby is classified as a medium-sized airport, and is currently the third-largest of this airport classification in terms of passengers (behind only Nashville and St. Louis). Southwest opened its first international terminal at Hobby and began service from Hobby to Mexico and Central and South America on October 15, 2015.The airport covers and has four runways. Its original art deco terminal building, which was the first passenger airline terminal in Houston, now houses the 1940 Air Terminal Museum.HistoryHobby Airport opened in 1927 as a private landing field in a 600acre pasture known as W.T. Carter Field. The airfield was served by Braniff International Airways and Eastern Air Lines. The site was acquired by the city of Houston and was named Houston Municipal Airport in 1937. The airport was renamed Howard R. Hughes Airport in 1938. Howard Hughes was responsible for several improvements to the airport, including its first control tower, built in 1938. The airport's name changed back to Houston Municipal because Hughes was still alive at the time and regulations did not allow federal improvement funds for an airport named after a living person.