North America · United States

Handling at Houston Hobby (KHOU)

We handle overflight permits, slots, flight plans, fuel, customs and the turnaround at Houston Hobby. One coordinator owns the stop at Houston Hobby, from the first filing to wheels up.

AERODROME

--:-- local

ICAO: KHOU
IATA: HOU
Elevation: 46 ft
Position: 29.645, -95.277

RUNWAYS

04/222,317 m / 7,602 ftConcrete
13R/31L2,317 m / 7,602 ftAsphalt
13L/31R1,569 m / 5,148 ftConcrete

Reference only, not for flight planning. Lengths are full declared runway length rather than declared distances, and this page is not amended on the AIRAC cycle. Check the current AIP and NOTAMs, or ask the desk and we will check them for you.

The field

What KHOU is actually like

Hobby is Houston's closer-in airport and a major business aviation field serving the energy sector and the Texas Medical Center. It handles scheduled traffic but private movements are a large and well-supported share.

Operating brief

What we handle before you file

Permits

Domestic legs need nothing filed. Hobby is a common first point of entry from Mexico and Central America, so in practice the eAPIS submission and the customs notice are the paperwork on a Houston trip.

Slots and parking

No slot control and generally good availability, with parking obtainable at short notice in most weeks. Hobby's advantage over Bush is proximity: it is materially closer to downtown, the Medical Center and the Galleria, and the ground time saved is usually larger than any difference on the ramp.

Customs and border

Full international customs facilities, which is a large part of why Latin American traffic uses Hobby rather than Bush.

When it gets tight

The energy conference season in spring, the rodeo in March, and hurricane season from June through November, which is a schedule risk rather than a capacity one.

On the ground

Off the aircraft and into the car

Twenty minutes to downtown and twenty-five to the Medical Center, which between them account for most of the reason anyone flies here. Handling is unhurried in the good sense. Bush is the better field only when the aircraft or the timing demands it.

Alternates

Where we go when KHOU will not take the trip

Every one of these is a field we would put to you with the reason attached, not a list of nearby runways.

KIAH
George Bush Intercontinental
North of the city with full capability and longer runways.
KSGR
Sugar Land Regional
South west, business aviation focused, and closer for the western suburbs.
KDWH
David Wayne Hooks Memorial
North west, general aviation, and the quieter option.

What we handle here