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 / 29.62222; -95.65667
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 and previously as 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 which includes corporate business jet and turboprop flights.

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

Dr. Donald "Doc" 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 then forced those airports to close. Hull decided to develop an airport that would hopefully 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 property.[7]

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]

Past airline service

Several commuter airlines operated scheduled passenger service into Sugar Land Regional over the years. In the fall of 1979, Commutair was flying a "cross-town" shuttle service between the airport and Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter twin turboprop aircraft operating up to twelve round trip flights a day.[8] The Commutair service was then replaced by Metro Airlines during the 1980s. In the summer of 1983, Metro, operating as an independent air carrier, was flying up to nine round trips a day between Sugar Land and Houston Intercontinental with Twin Otter aircraft.[9] By early 1985, Metro Airlines had entered into a codesharing agreement with Eastern Air Lines and was flying Twin Otter aircraft as Eastern Express between the airport and IAH with up to eleven round trip flights a day.[10]

In 1993, Austin-based Conquest Airlines announced it would begin intrastate flights from the airport to Austin, (AUS), Dallas Love Field (DAL) and San Antonio.[11] By 1994, Conquest had dropped flights to San Antonio but was still operating nonstops to Austin and Dallas Love Field.[12] In 1995, the airline was operating three nonstop flights a day to Austin with Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro III model) propjets and by 1996 Conquest was no longer serving Sugar Land Regional.[13]

The airport currently does not have any scheduled passenger airline flights.

Current name

Sugar Land Regional Airport received its current name in October 2002.[7] The airfield was formerly known as Sugar Land Municipal Airport and Hull Field.

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.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Sugar Land Regional Airport, official web site
  2. 1 2 3 4 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". Feasibility Study of Relocating the Central Unit (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. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
  6. ↑ Pina, Kim (April 18, 2008). "What's in store for Sugar Land's airport?". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 "History". Sugar Land Regional Airport. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010. (Archive)
  8. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Nov. 15, 1979 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Houston (IAH) schedules
  9. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, July 1, 1983 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Houston (IAH) schedules
  10. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Feb. 15, 1985 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Houston (IAH) schedules
  11. ↑ Staff (October 14, 1993). "Conquest Airlines to add 21 flights to Sugar Land schedule". Austin American-Statesman. pp. F1. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  12. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, Sept. 15, 1994 Conquest Airlines route map
  13. ↑ http://www.departedflights.com, April 2, 1995 Offioial Airline Guide (OAG), Austin schedules
  14. ↑ Swartz, Mimi (May 2009). "The Dark Knight.". 37 (5). Texas Monthly. p. 211.
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