IAH's New Terminal B Is Open: $2.6 Billion, 22 New Gates and the Largest Airline Lounge in the Americas
George Bush Intercontinental's oldest terminal, built in 1969, has reopened as something else entirely: a 22-gate North Concourse, a lobby built for 36 million passengers a year, and a 54,000-square-foot United Club with a Space City-inspired tequila bar and room for 800 people.
United Airlines and the Houston Airport System have opened the transformed Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the $2.6 billion rebuild of one of the airport's oldest terminals. The first phase opened to passengers on October 22. The terminal, originally constructed in 1969, is expected to triple its passenger capacity - its rebuilt lobby, closed since January 2025, returns with a new ticketing hall, security checkpoint and baggage claim hall designed for up to 36 million passengers a year.
The new Terminal B North Concourse - three levels and 765,000 square feet - offers 22 narrow-body gates able to receive United's newest aircraft, the A321neo Coastliner and the A321XLR, with every flight boarding by jet bridge. Inside are a sensory room, a children's soft-play park, caregiver and nursing rooms, a pet relief area and two concession hubs carrying Houston names, among them B&B Butchers, Blood Bros. BBQ and Katz Coffee. The rebuilt South Concourse went the other way on count - 30 smaller regional-jet gates consolidated to 26 - so the full Terminal B program totals 48 gates. "I want our customers to start their vacation the minute they show up at the airport," United CEO Scott Kirby said, "and Terminal B North sets a new standard for facilities across the country."
The showpiece sits on the mezzanine near gate B11: a 54,000-square-foot United Club, billed as the largest airline lounge in the Americas, with seating for 800 across four areas and hours from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Its rooms run from the Museum District-inspired Gravity Garden to the Texas-themed Lasso Lounge - and, at the far end, the Moonshot Lounge, a Space City-inspired tequila bar opening onto a 1,350-square-foot outdoor terrace. The terminal was designed to LEED Gold standards (the lounge has no showers; Polaris passengers find those elsewhere at IAH). United, the airport's largest carrier, says IAH is the 15th-busiest airport in the United States - and that this winter it expects to add Houston flights to Tuxtla Gutierrez in Mexico, Cartagena in Colombia and Caracas in Venezuela.
