Houston Gulf Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Houston, Texas | ||||||||||
| Location | League City, Texas | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 21 ft / 6.4 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 29°30′30″N095°03′05″W / 29.50833°N 95.05139°W | ||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2002) | |||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration [1] | |||||||||||
Houston Gulf Airport( IATA : SPX, ICAO : KSPX, FAA LID : SPX) was a single-runway airport located in eastern League City, Texas, United States. [2] Its FAA code was SPX [3] and its IATA code was also SPX. [4]
The airport opened in 1967 as the Spaceland Airport, a name related to the Johnson Space Center, located about 4 miles north of the airport. [3]
A businessperson named James R. Bath purchased the airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden in 1977. Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate the airport. [5] Salem bin Laden owned the airport for six years before his death in 1988. [6] After Salem bin Laden died, the airport, now owned by his estate, was for sale. [6] [7]
The airport was scheduled to close on April 1, 2002. A coalition of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and some local pilots created a campaign asking for the City of League City to acquire the airport from its owner. [8] The airport's land was sold and the land became a string of houses along Texas State Highway 96. [9] The group of houses are part of a 2,000-house community called Tuscan Lakes. [10]
