George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Facts on IAH
IAH's code comes from the airport's original name style, 'Intercontinental Airport of Houston.' It opened in June 1969 as Houston Intercontinental Airport and wasn't renamed for President George H.W. Bush until May 1997 — but the code IAH never changed.
The airport is named for George H.W. Bush, the 41st U.S. president, who moved his family and his oil company to Houston in 1959; after leaving the White House in 1993 he built a retirement house in the city's West Oaks neighborhood and died there in 2018 at age 94.
Source: Wikipedia
Houston City Council had considered naming the airport for congressman Mickey Leland, who died in a plane crash in Ethiopia, but instead honored him with just an arrivals building; in April 1997 the council voted unanimously to rename the whole airport for Houston resident George H.W. Bush, effective that May 2.
Source: Wikipedia
IAH's longest runway, 15L/33R, stretches 12,001 feet (3,658 m); a 2002 project extended another runway from 6,308 feet to 10,000 feet as part of the airport's continued expansion.
IAH's terminals hold more than 130 works of art scattered throughout the concourses, enough that the airport has been jokingly described as 'the world's most inefficient art gallery.'
Houston businessmen bought the airport's land in 1957 through a holding company called Jet Era Ranch Corporation; a typographical error turned 'Jet Era' into 'Jetero,' a name that stuck for the site until the airport opened as Houston Intercontinental in June 1969.
Source: Wikipedia
When Houston Intercontinental opened in 1969, Pan American flew ten weekly Boeing 707 flights to Mexico City, KLM ran Douglas DC-8s to Amsterdam via Montreal, and Braniff served Panama City several times a week, while all of Houston's scheduled passenger service moved over from Hobby Airport.
Source: Wikipedia
George Bush Intercontinental sits about 23 miles north of downtown Houston and covers 10,000 acres of land with five runways, making it one of the largest U.S. airports by land area.
Source: Wikipedia