With all my discussions of Chicago’s Midway and O’Hare airports recently, it dawned on me that both of them fell within Cook County, Illinois. Well, technically a corner of O’Hare extended into neighboring DuPage County. But the important stuff like the terminals and most of the runways remained within Cook so I called it close enough. Think of the fortunate citizens of Cook County. They could draw upon the convenience, prestige and tax revenue of two international airports within their midst. Who else could say that?
Twelve Mile Circle needed to know.
Not Los Angeles County, California
The biggest cities in the United States provided an obvious starting point. The greater Los Angeles, California metropolitan area simply oozed with airports. I’d traveled to some of them and they certainly seemed important. Unfortunately the area sprawled in many directions across multiple jurisdictions. Los Angeles County claimed the mighty Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). However Ontario International Airport (ONT) fell within San Bernardino County and John Wayne Airport (SNA) fell within Orange County.
I guess if anyone wanted to get picky we should also consider Bob Hope Airport (BUR) and Long Beach Airport (LGB), both within Los Angeles County. Neither provided regularly-scheduled international service so I felt that disqualified them. Feel free to argue otherwise. I just didn’t put them in the same category as the others although Long Beach did seem to have at least one daily flight going all the way to New York City. Anyway I had to draw the line somewhere so international service seemed to be as good an indicator as any. Los Angeles County, by that strict definition, had only one major airport.
Queens County, New York
I didn’t have to bend the rules at all for New York City. The borough of Queens — coterminous with Queens County — completely encapsulated two high-traffic airports. LaGuardia (LGA) stood at the northern end and John F. Kennedy (JFK) at the southern.
However, LaGuardia didn’t have a border control facility. Did 12MC just violate its own arbitrary rule about requiring international flights? Actually, no. LaGuardia could accept flights from international locations with U.S. border preclearance facilities (e.g., Toronto). I flew into a U.S. airport (not LaGuardia) a couple of years ago from Ireland with preclearance. It was wonderful to deplane at my destination and simply walk away without the hassle of immigration and customs. It lets travelers get past those formalities before boarding instead of at the end, when everyone just wants to finish the trip and get out of there.
Totally unrelated to the topic, people arriving at LaGuardia can rent cars there. I know it sounded crazy that anyone would ever want to rent a car at LaGuardia given its proximity to Manhattan. In my case I had to go to a work location way out on Long Island. Flights to Islip cost a fortune so I actually rented a car at LaGuardia and drove in the opposite direction, away from the city. It can be done.
Dallas and Harris Counties, Texas
Texas offered two counties with dual airports, both due in large part to Southwest Airlines. Most flights to Dallas use Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW). The border between Dallas County and Tarrant County ran practically straight through the middle of the airport. However, Dallas also featured Love Field (DAL). It used to be the primary airport for Dallas until DFW took over in the 1970’s.
Traffic plummeted at Love Field when that happened. It also allowed an upstart Southwest Airlines to operate with reduced costs because gates were cheaper there. Southwest based its entire network at Love Field and built from there to become a major airline. In recognition, Southwest adopted the New York Stock Exchange symbol LUV and built a heart into its logo.
Harris County, anchored by the city of Houston, offered a similar story. George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) became the predominant airport in the late 1960’s. Earlier-established Hobby Airport (HOU) nearly fell by the wayside as a result. Nobody flew out of Hobby and it faced demolition until Southwest Airlines started operating there in the 1970’s.
I noticed a street just south of the property called Braniff Street (map). The old Braniff International Airways was a dominant carrier at Hobby Airport during its original heyday. Braniff flew for more than fifty years before declaring bankruptcy and halting all flights in 1982. Nonetheless the name lived on in a way along a short stretch of asphalt.
Did I miss any other counties with two or more major/international airports?
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