Airline History
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport was linked to the national airway grid with regularly scheduled airline service. Among some of the more unusual routes were nonstop flights to Victoria, Texas and the Clear Lake City STOLport which were served as extensions or as an intermediate stop on the regularly scheduled passenger route between then-named Brazoria County Airport and Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) as this airport was called prior to airline deregulation. In the 1980s, the old Lake Jackson Dow Airport (LJN) near Lake Jackson's town center was closed following the construction and opening of the new Brazoria County Airport north of the city limits of Lake Jackson. Prior to the opening of the present airport, in February of 1976 Houston Metro Airlines was operating six nonstop flights every weekday from the old airport (LJN) to Houston (IAH) with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL turboprops as well as two nonstop flights every weekday from LJN to Victoria (VCT), also with Twin Otters. The old Lake Jackson Dow Airport was also the site of an emergency landing of a hijacked National Airlines (NA) Boeing 727-200 jetliner which was followed by a short standoff by the hijackers with law enforcement personnel on July 12, 1972..
Following the opening of the Brazoria County Airport (LBX), Metro Airlines, which by then had changed its name from Houston Metro Airlines, occasionally used larger, flight attendant staffed Short 330 commuter airliner turboprops in addition to the smaller de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL turboprops on flights to and from Houston Intercontinental (IAH). In April of 1981, Metro Airlines was operating six nonstop DHC-6 Twin Otter flights every weekday from the new LBX airport to IAH. Other regional aircraft serving LBX in scheduled airline service included Royale Airlines Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante turboprops as well as Beechcraft Model 99 turboprops. Royale, which had taken over the service at LBX from Metro Airlines, functioned as a feeder airline for Continental Airlines to and from IAH prior to Royale's bankruptcy and subsequent cessation of all flight operations. Several other small commuter air carriers served the airport as well over the years. In 1971, Amistad Airlines was operating turboprop service from the old Lake Jackson Dow Airport (LJN) to both Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) and to Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH). In 1985, Texas Airlines operated service to Houston Intercontinental which were flown with Piper prop aircraft.
Other air carriers that have served Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport in the past include Comair operating Canadair CRJ regional jet aircraft and Aerodynamics Inc. (ADI) flying Fokker F28 Fellowship jets and Airbus A319 jetliners. Both of these air carriers were operating scheduled corporate charters via respective contracts for Dow Chemical shuttling employees to and from Dow Chemical's Midland Michigan facilities.
Currently, Dow Chemical operates two corporate-owned Bombardier (Canadair) CRJ-700 aircraft from the airport flying its employees to and from MBS International Airport in Midland, Michigan and also to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport in Louisiana.
At present, no regularly scheduled commercial passenger airline service is offered from this airfield.
Read more about this topic: Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport
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