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West Houston Airport (KIWS) is a privately owned, public-use general aviation field in the Greater Katy area of Harris County, Texas, some 15 miles west of downtown Houston. Operating since 1962 under the earlier name Lakeside Airport, it remains one of the region's busiest reliever fields for light aircraft, training and business flying, with a single lit asphalt runway and a full range of general aviation services.
West Houston Airport is a privately owned, public-use general aviation airport serving the Greater Katy area on the western side of Houston, Texas. It bills itself as Houston's exclusive general aviation airport, valued by pilots for its proximity to downtown Houston, the Galleria, Memorial City and the Energy Corridor. With a single paved runway, parallel taxiways, a two-storey terminal building and a cluster of on-field aviation businesses, it is a popular destination for flight training, aircraft rental, maintenance and general business aviation traffic. Source: https://www.westhoustonairport.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Houston_Airport
The airport lies in Harris County, Texas, about 15 miles west of downtown Houston in the Greater Katy area, close to the edge of the Addicks reservoir. Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center is the airport's designated ARTCC, and inbound and outbound traffic works Houston Approach/Departure on 123.8 MHz. The field sits amid a busy general aviation environment shared with nearby Houston Executive Airport and other Harris County fields, within reach of Houston's Class B airspace surrounding the major commercial airports. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Houston_Airport, https://www.westhoustonairport.com/
West Houston Airport has a single physical runway, 15/33, measuring 3,946 feet in length with a hard (asphalt) surface and runway lighting. The runway is served by parallel taxiways.
Radio callsign traffic uses Houston Approach/Departure on 123.8 MHz (A/D), Clearance Delivery on 121.15 MHz (CLD), and Unicom/CTAF on 123.05 MHz (UNIC), which also serves as the common traffic advisory frequency for an airport without a control tower. The airport's own information additionally lists an AWOS weather frequency of 125.575 MHz. There is no ILS approach published for the field. Source: https://ourairports.com/airports/KIWS/frequencies.html, https://www.westhoustonairport.com/
The airport lies near the edge of the Addicks reservoir on the western side of Houston, with the Energy Corridor, Memorial City and the Galleria all useful area landmarks for pilots orienting themselves toward the field from the east. It is adjacent to a private country club and public parkland, which can assist visual identification when approaching from the surrounding suburban and green space of the Greater Katy area. Source: https://www.westhoustonairport.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Houston_Airport
West Houston Airport opened in 1962 and was originally known as Lakeside Airport, a name derived from its location near the edge of the Addicks reservoir; it adopted its present name in the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s the airport had scheduled passenger service from Air West, which flew eight nonstop weekday flights to Dallas Love Field using four-engine, 50-seat de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops, aircraft chosen for their short-take-off-and-landing capability given the airport's relatively short runway. The field was included on the National Air Transportation Association's list of America's most needed, and later most important, general aviation airports, and the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011-2015 categorised it as a general aviation reliever airport. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Houston_Airport
West Houston Airport remains a privately owned, public-use general aviation field, open 24 hours a day year-round, covering some 200 acres. It handles a high volume of traffic, with FAA data cited for 2016 recording around 103,000 aircraft operations a year, an average of 282 per day, split between local and transient general aviation with a small proportion of air taxi movements; the airport is home to more than 375 based aircraft. On-field facilities include Jet-A and 100LL fuel with quick-turn service, hangars, T-hangars and tiedowns, a beacon, and runway lighting comprising HIRL, REIL and PAPI. A flight school offering private and instrument ground school and flight training operates from the field alongside aircraft rental, maintenance shops, an avionics shop, aircraft detailing and upholstery services, and aircraft sales and management/charter businesses. The terminal building provides a conference room, Wi-Fi, computers, pilot supplies and chart sales, along with courtesy cars, rental cars, taxi and limousine services. As a privately owned airport it receives no federal funding for improvements, and a landing fee, typically around ten dollars, applies to fixed-wing arrivals. Source: https://www.westhoustonairport.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Houston_Airport
