Airport Check-in: Houston to make Terminal B bigger

— -- HOUSTON

Terminal B to get makeover

Houston airport officials said they will announce Monday that the city and Continental Airlines will spend $1.2 billion in the next seven to 10 years to nearly quintuple the size of Terminal B.

Terminal B, which mostly handles Continental's domestic flights, will grow to 1.7 million square feet from the current 360,000. Continental, the airport's largest tenant, is partly funding the project and will occupy most of the enlarged space for domestic and international flights.

As part of the project, the airport's rail system will also be lengthened to cover all five terminals, and parking will be expanded.

Buoyed by Houston's burgeoning oil and gas industries, a record 52 million passengers used the airport last year. It has added seven new international destinations since the beginning of 2007.

DALLAS

Drop in for a shot before you fly

Tequila for the travel-weary? Dallas/Fort Worth opened two branches of Tequileria, a local restaurant specializing in various types of the Mexican spirits. One branch is in Terminal A near Gate 16, the other in Terminal E near Gate 12. Most tequila brands cost $3 a shot. Tequileria also serves Latin-fusion cuisine.

ROCKFORD, ILL.

New carrier with Denver, Detroit service

In an unusual arrangement, Chicago Rockford International is forming a business venture with a tenant airline to lure new service.

Its deal with scheduled charter airline Southern Skyways calls for the airport to split the profit and costs for two new routes that the carrier will introduce on June 6: one to take over service to Denver that United is ending on June 4 and new service to Detroit Metro.

The Atlanta-based airline had already announced service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., that will start in late May, but it wouldn't have launched other routes without the airport's direct involvement, says Bob O'Brien, airport director.

The airport is hoping to generate enough business so that it can step aside after a year. "They don't get any profit until we break even," says O'Brien.