Sugar Land Regional Airport

Sugar Land Regional Airport
IATA: SGR – ICAO: KSGR – FAA LID: SGR
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner City of Sugar Land
Serves Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown
Location Sugar Land, Texas (USA)
Elevation AMSL 82 ft / 25 m
Coordinates 29°37′20″N 095°39′24″W / 29.62222°N 95.65667°W
Website www.FlySGR.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 8,000 2,438 Concrete
Statistics (2005)
Aircraft operations 90,758
Based aircraft 160
Sources: airport web site[1] and FAA[2]

Sugar Land Regional Airport (IATA: SGR, ICAO: KSGR, FAA LID: SGR) is a city-owned public-use airport located in Sugar Land, Texas (USA), 17 miles (27 km) southwest of the central business district of Houston.[1][2]

It was formerly known as Sugar Land Municipal Airport, or Hull Field. The airport was purchased from a private interest in 1990 by the city of Sugar Land. As of 2009 it is the fourth-largest airport within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area and handles approximately 250 aircraft operations per day.

The airport today serves the area's general aviation (GA) aircraft serving corporate, governmental, and private clientele. A new 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) Terminal opened in 2006 with a 54-acre (22 ha) GA complex that includes 99 T-hangars nested in six buildings.[3]

The airport, the fourth largest airport in Greater Houston as of 2009, receives yearly usage from over 100 Fortune 500 companies. TXP, Inc. released a report identifying the airport as "foremost general reliever airport in the southwest sector" and "a catalyst for corporate commerce in the Greater Houston market including the Westchase District, Uptown, and Greenway Plaza."[4] In terms of general aviation the airport serves as a reliever for William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. As of 2010 Sugar Land Regional is the third busiest airport in Greater Houston by amount of aircraft operations.[5]

The City of Houston maintains Cullinan Park, which occupies 750 acres (300 ha) of land directly north and west of the Sugar Land Regional Airport, blocking possibilities for expansion. In addition the airport is surrounded by Sugar Land homes, and there is a highway and rail road track directly south of the airport—all factors that block airport expansion. The former Central Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison for males, is in land zoned for airport expansion.[6]

History

Donald Hull, an oral surgeon that established a dental program for the Texas Department of Corrections in the early 1950s. Hull, who commuted across Southeast Texas to provide dental care to prisoners, originally operated aircraft to South Houston Airport and Sam Houston Airport. The City of Houston forced those airports to close. Hull decided to develop an airport that would not be closed. In 1952 Hull landed his biplane in a field near Sugar Land. Afterwards, with a loan from a friend, Hull purchased the field.[7] In 1985 the airport saw service to Houston Intercontinental through Metro Airlines, operating as Eastern Airlines Express.[8]

The City of Sugar Land purchased Hull Field on December 18, 1990 and renamed the airport "Sugar Land Municipal Airport."[7] The City of Sugar Land opened an NFCT (non-federal control tower) that it funds and operates. This control tower manages traffic within 4 miles (6 km) of Sugar Land Airport from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily.[2] From the northern hemisphere summer of 1993 to early 1995,[7] Sugar Land Regional Airport handled commercial passenger service during the mid-1990s for a now-defunct Texas carrier known as Conquest Airlines. Conquest offered commercial flights from the airport to Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.[9] The airline closed after financial difficulties occurred. The airport received its current name in October 2002.[7]

Facilities and aircraft

U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport

Sugar Land Regional Airport covers an area of 426 acres (172 ha) and contains one concrete paved runway designated 17/35 which measures 8,000 x 100 ft (2,438 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending July 28, 2005, the airport had 90,758 aircraft operations, an average of 248 per day: 95% general aviation, 5% air taxi and <1% military. At that time there were 160 aircraft based at this airport: 58% single-engine, 22% multi-engine, 16% jet and 4% helicopter.[2] The airport includes the former Stanford Aviation hangar, described by Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly as "impeccably landscaped." Flights from the terminal went to Antigua.[10]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sugar Land Regional Airport, official web site
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 FAA Airport Master Record for SGR (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  3. ↑ Kanable, Rebecca (May–June 2011). "Sugar Land Regional". Airport Improvement Magazine. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  4. ↑ "Potential Economic & Tax Impact of Central Prison Unit & Smithville Property Redevelopment" (PDF). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. January 2009. pp. 1 (24/45). Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  5. ↑ Crocker, Ronnie (November 27, 2010). "A lot of lift". Houston Chronicle.
  6. ↑ Pina, Kim (April 18, 2008). "What's in store for Sugar Land's airport?". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "History". Sugar Land Regional Airport. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Airlines and Aircraft Serving Houston Intercontinental Effective February 15, 1985". Departed Flights. February 15, 1985. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  9. ↑ Staff (October 14, 1993). "Conquest Airlines to add 21 flights to Sugar Land schedule". Austin American-Statesman. pp. F1. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  10. ↑ Swartz, Mimi (May 2009). "The Dark Knight." 37 (5). Texas Monthly. p. 211.

External links