Southwest’s Inaugural Flight to Belize Touches Down at P.G.I.A.
Today, Southwest Airlines inaugurated its flight from Houston to Belize. But the celebration for this based airline carrier started from earlier today at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston Texas where the first Southwest international facility was also inaugurated. The hundred and fifty-six-million-dollar investment by the company marks a milestone for the airport which will now offer daily international flights to Mexico, Costa Rica and now Belize. News Five was there for the early morning festivities, which begun with the first flight to Cancun.
Brad Hawkins
Brad Hawkins, Senior Communication Ad visor, Southwest Airlines
“It’s a beautiful facility. I think the video will show; it’s a hundred and fifty-six million dollars that Southwest has invested in the city of Houston for a long term future. What does it brings us? Five extra gates; it brings us all of these flights that are boarding domestically across the hallway and those are connections for Belizeans as well. So this is not just a nonstop route to Houston; for Belize it is being able to plug into the largest domestic airline in the United States. and this facility with its easy customs and border protection, with its new restaurants, with its bright light…it is part of our customer service experience.”
Gary Kelly
Gary Kelly, Chairman, President & C.E.O., Southwest Airlines
“It really is the dawn of a new era here for the city of Houston and I just could not be more excited. This is what we do. We go in, we lower fares; it makes flying affordable and we are able to build these kinds of wonderful places to serve our communities and nothing makes us more proud. And it is just so wonderful to have everyone here this morning to celebrate with us. We are famous for our low fares, but we are beloved for the hospitality of our wonderful people. And that’s what gets people to come back to Southwest airlines over and over again and I just couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Annise Parker
Hon. Annise Parker, Mayor, City of Houston
“We expect to be picking up a million additional international passengers a year out of this terminal and that is huge for the future of the city of Houston. But in a city where almost one in four Houstonians are foreign born, these flights….these flights connect families; these flights connect neighbors.”
Gary Kelly
“Houston, you have an option and we the people of Southwest Airlines in conjunction with the Houston Airports System and the City of Houston hereby declare the opening of the International Concourse at William P. Hobby Airport as of Thursday, the fifteenth of October, 2015.”
Bob Montgomery
Bob Montgomery, VP Airport Affairs, Southwest Airlines
“It’s time to wrap up this moment of celebrating great cooperation and partnership. And some go back to the work that we all built this place to support. We have full flights to Port of Vallarta and Los Tabos departing just before ten-thirty. We have a new destination for Southwest…Belize City, Belize coming online with our one-thirty-five departure this afternoon. And we have more flights coming to Cancun, to San Jose, Costa Rica and to Mexico City this afternoon. And remember, in November—this is just a small step—we are growing this international product. In November, we’ll have more new daily service to Montego Bay, Jamaica and to Liberia, Costa Rica. So much, much more to come. Stay tuned.”
