NEWS BRIEFS Frontier Airlines adds new routes fromHobby airport
NEW DESTINATIONS
Frontier Airlines in May will be able to take passengers nonstop from Hobby Airport to:
BY SIERRA ROZEN
SOURCE: HOUSTON AIRPORT SYSTEM COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
today’s announcement of new ights to Cancun, Las Vegas and Orlando furthers our mission to make ying more accessible and a ordable for everyone,” said Josh Flyr, vice president of network and operational design for Frontier Airlines. Service to Cancun will begin May 26 with service to Las Vegas and Orlando beginning May 27. Frontier Airlines also has service at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, servicing
CANCUN
LAS VEGAS
ORLANDO
Frontier Airlines has added three new routes for passengers at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. The expanded partnership was announced Jan. 18 and will begin in May. Advertised as a “low-fare carrier,” the airline will provide nonstop service to Cancun, Las Vegas and Orlando. “Frontier takes low fares to heart— it’s the core of our business—and
ights to Las Vegas, Orlando, Atlanta, Denver and Philadelphia. Flights to Cancun will happen three times a week, and ights to Las Vegas and Orlando will happen four times a week, according to the press release. “Having Frontier Airlines at Hobby Airport provides tremendous
value for our community and the traveling public,” said Molly Waits, chief marketing, air service devel- opment and communications o cer for Houston Airports. Additionally, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines announced a merger Feb. 7 that is expected in the second half of 2022.
METROaims to set the standard for sustainability BY SIERRA ROZEN
2030, according to Monica Russo, public informa- tion o cer and media specialist for METRO. The sustainability plan has been in the works and a top priority for METRO for years, according to METRO board member Christopher Hollins. “We’re still thinking through it with the team, but even prior to this being formalized in the way that it has been, METRO has been a leader in this space, whether it’s conserving water, whether it’s recycling, whether it’s conserving energy. We want to do that for our own organization,” Hollins said. METRO o cials hope to have the buses by late 2022 and roll them out soon after. Ticket prices will not change for passengers, but METRO drivers will need to learn how to drive the electric buses. The board of directors also approved carrying out a contract with Creative Bus Sales to buy 10 electric paratransit vans and chargers at the Jan. 27 meeting for $3.1 million.
SUSTAINABILITY STATS electric buses will be purchased as part of METRO’s sustainability initiative 20 2030 is the year METRO set a goal to purchase only 100% emission-free vehicles $22M will be spent on the electric bus contract SOURCE: METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY OF HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER purchasing 20 electric buses at the Nov. 18 board meeting, as previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper . METRO will source the buses from Nova Bus, a roughly $22 million contract. METRO’s goal for its sustainability initiatives is to only purchase 100% zero-emission buses by
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County will be monitoring the e ects of its elec- tric vehicles in 2022 as part of its sustainability initiative. The METRO board of directors approved
Report:Monitoringairafterevents ‘unnecessary’
Houstoneconomystill experiencingsupply chain issues; employmentbeginningtogrow
BY JISHNU NAIR
commissioners during a Jan. 28 work session. TCEQ Executive Director Toby Baker said the report, which analyzed major natural disasters from 2017-21, took advantage of “once- in-history” events to study how facilities restarted following storms and res. The report analyzed 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, 2020’s Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, and 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. Two industrial res in 2019 were also studied: The Intercontinental Terminal Co. re in Deer Park in March and the Texas Petrochemicals Group re in Port Neches in November.
A report from the Texas Com- mission on Environmental Quality found the agency’s regional deploy- ment of personnel to conduct air quality monitoring of industrial facilities following natural disasters was “unnecessary.” TCEQ’s report found out of 3.6 million monitoring data points taken following natural events, such as storms, 23 exceeded a value con- sidered healthy. However, industri- al-based events reported out of 1.5 million data points taken from two res, 215 exceeded healthy values. The report was presented to
BY SIERRA ROZEN
In a survey sent out to busi- nesses experiencing supply chain disruptions, a majority said they expected it to be at least a year before their supply chains normal- ized. Tracy attributed this change to when a businesses closed down at the beginning of the pandemic to try to not overwhelm hospitals. Tracy also mentioned the labor market is recovering, but it is still not back to 2019 levels. With Houston being an energy metro, it is one of the cities that is still recovering its lost jobs, Tracy said.
Despite Texas employment growing faster than United States employment, business owners are still wary of long supply chains, according to Joe Tracy, executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Tracy presented his ndings at the annual Greater Houston Builders Association economic forecast luncheon Feb. 1. He noted Houston economically outper- formed the country in 2021 and will likely do so in 2022 as well.
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BAY AREA EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
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