I can’t understand why Houston isn’t recognized as a major international city. It’s the 4th (almost 3rd) largest city in the US and has the most diverse ethnic makeup (next to NYC). Coupled with the huge energy sector and strong Texas economy it makes sense to expand intentionally…this fo course is my obviously biased opinion. 😁

 

I don’t disagree with you but INTL flying requires connections unless the flight can stand on its own.

who will connect through IAH to get anywhere in the world outside of central and South America…..SYD works because it picks up connections from east of the Mississippi and it’s on the way. You could make a case for South Africa but at the moment we don’t have the slots and the distance is just a bit to far for any aircraft to fly it profitably.

 

Houston is “Mexico City #2” and a magnet for low-income immigration abroad (diversity doesn’t mean automatic success in air travel). The low COL and humidity/heat attract immigrants from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, Cuba.. generally low earners/blue collar trade.

https://www.houstonlanding.org/repor...-more-diverse/

It has a very high poverty rate, very low household median income, economic disparity (those outside the high-end oil business: most Houstonians) make very little/travel very little compared to other large metros. It’s poorly positioned for TATL/TPAC travel, but perfect for Latin/South.

City/metro size alone is apart of the puzzle and doesn’t translate to success in air travel. Network, geography, local GDP, & corporations all play an equal or larger part as well.

Houston’s GDP is more than Atlanta and Miami, slightly less than Dallas, but ATL & DFW greatly overshadow IAH travel. Even MIA handles more.

 

a big part of the problem is that most connections going through IAH would fly in the “wrong direction” to get to IAH in the first place.

 

Yet IAH international was a money maker for CAL pre merger across the Atlantic, Pacific and Central/South America. Go figure.

 

And back than there was constant complaining from IAH that EWR always got all the great int flying…

 

Does Houston make you insecure, trolly boy?

 

The complaints went both ways! Are you new here?

 

because it had to be if you bought a ticket on Continental you could only go to IAH or EWR. So all of the sudden IAH became a good connection point because it had to be.

 

Yeah, I guess that explains why Air New Zealand, ZipAir, ANA and ITA have moved in since the merger, eh?