Mischer News

Houston is not only home to area residents it also serves as a hub for many who travel regularly for work, for pleasure and those who visit Houston. Despite being a major hub, travel in and out of Houston airports had decreased in 2009, but made a comeback at the end of the year.

At both major Houston airports, George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and William P. Hobby (HOU), airline passenger counts rose during the end of the year. At IAH passenger totals rose 2% from 3.4 million passengers in December 2008 to 3.5 million in December 2009. International travel was also on the rise, with 715,451 passengers travelling in 2009 compared to 661,462 passengers the year before, a rise of 8.2%.

Houston Hobby also had an increase in travel with passenger counts for December at 716,009 compared to 697,785 in 2008, yielding a 2.6% increase in travel sales. Despite lower passenger counts for the majority of 2009 The Houston Airport System said these numbers were a “very promising sign.”

With more travelers in and out of Houston the airports want to take steps to increase customer satisfaction, one way they plan to do this is by offering access to free Wi-Fi in terminals and facilities for a set period of time.

According to the Houston Airport System’s director of Customer Relations and Special Services, Tim Joniec, “We are listening to our passengers and enhancing our internet offerings with free services for 45 minutes.” This should give passengers enough time to check their email and do business between most flights, and for those with longer layovers an additional complimentary session will be offered.

Houston Airport System has partnered with Lost Angeles based Boingo Wireless Inc. to offer this new service. When travelers attempt to get online they will be directed to the Boingo welcome page where they can choose the free period, pay by the hour or by the day or month.

With these new features the HAS hopes to deliver quality service to more customers and looks forward to serving an increasing number of passengers in the months and years to come.

Source: Houston Business Journal