Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport sees influx of travelers, nearly 2 million passengers expected next week – Houston Public Media

An influx of travelers has flooded Bush Intercontinental Airport in recent days as Houston airports prepare to welcome a record 19 million passengers over the summer, and nearly 2 million next week alone.

On Monday evening, hundreds of travelers lined up at the departure curbs of the airport’s Terminal C waiting for park-and-ride shuttles and ride-sharing services as parking lots were nearly full.

On Tuesday, around 1 p.m., the garages at terminals A and B were 92% full. The garages at terminals C, D and E were 100% full. The Ecopark lots were between 72% and 88% full.

And despite a new active loading policy implemented to efficiently streamline the airport’s traffic flow, Melissa Correa, a spokeswoman for the Houston airport system, said there was consistently a large influx of people entering and exiting the airport, and that Monday’s congestion was no different than most days.

“There was a moderate buildup of traffic for us Monday evening,” she said.

IAH is a disaster right now. It took an hour after calling my Uber to get there. One of the worst airport traffic I’ve ever seen in Houston pic.twitter.com/FCD2dfh1Rg

– Nick Scurfield (@NickScurfield) June 25, 2024

“It’s basically like a World Series game, a Super Bowl game and a Taylor Swift concert at the airport,” she said. “Houston is known for its traffic. The airport is no different.

The airport’s new active loading policy is meant to streamline curbside operations and reduce congestion by ensuring arriving and departing passengers are ready to go as soon as they pull up to the curb. But Correa said the policy has discouraged some people.

Houston Airports System

“Before, people would stop and wait, but all these delays of a few minutes just add up and build and build,” she said. “It’s a simple, boring message we give: Don’t get into traffic until the passengers are ready.”

On Monday, in the terminal sidewalks filled with travelers, long queues formed for those waiting to be transferred to other parking lots.

The Parking Spot, which regularly transports a large majority of park-and-ride travelers at the airport, was unable to make a representative available Tuesday to comment on the prolonged shuttle wait times.

Correa said that with an influx of travelers, it’s not as easy to attribute the long wait times for shuttle services to airport construction.

A terminal redevelopment project is underway and represents the largest expansion program in the airport’s history. The project will renovate Terminal D and improve current and future roadways and curbside capacity constraints, according to the airport system. Another United Airlines Terminal B project at the airport is expected to be completed in 2026.

RELATED: Houston City Council Members Approve $150 Million for Bush Airport Terminal B Redevelopment

“If Ecopark is running a shuttle every minute, but there is an influx of cars, their shuttles are also stuck in traffic,” Melissa Correa, a spokeswoman for the Houston airport system, said Tuesday.

“Every day this summer is a travel day,” Melissa Correa, a spokeswoman for the Houston airport system, said Tuesday. “Again, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays being the peak of peaks.”

United Airlines, the city’s largest airline, operates an average of 490 flights each day, with approximately 55,000 customers, from IAH. The airline expects more than 5 million passengers airline-wide during the Independence Day weekend.

A United Airlines Next plan to meet the airline’s growth plans to introduce hundreds of larger planes over the next decade with greater capacities, according to Houston Airports System, citing the plan as contributing to increased congestion at the airport.

The airport system encourages people to reserve parking online at least 12 hours in advance and arrive early with plenty of time to navigate the airport.