Hobby was initially closed after the opening of Houston Intercontinental; however, it was re-opened after several years, and became a secondary airport for domestic airline service, and a center for corporate and private aviation.

Houston Hobby is an operating base for Southwest Airlines, which has international and domestic flights from HOU, and carries the vast majority of its passengers.

The first three Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) training classes were held at the Houston Municipal Airport in 1943.

In 1949, Braniff flew direct via Lima to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and La Paz, Bolivia.

In 1958, Delta was operating daily nonstop Douglas DC-7s to New York City and weekly DC-7s direct to Caracas, Venezuela via New Orleans (Delta called this latter service the "El Petrolero")[16] while Eastern Douglas DC-7s and Lockheed Constellations flew nonstop to New York City.

Braniff International introduced Boeing 707s in April 1960, nonstop to Dallas Love Field and direct to Chicago O'Hare Airport; Braniff Lockheed L-188 Electra propjets flew nonstop to Chicago Midway Airport and Dallas Love Field, and direct to Denver, Minneapolis/St.

[20] On May 15, 1960, Delta Air Lines operated the world's first Convair 880 scheduled passenger flight nonstop to New York City Idlewild Airport from Hobby.

[21] Delta would introduce Convair 880 flights nonstop to Chicago O'Hare Airport, St. Louis and New Orleans from Houston in addition to its service to New York City.

[24] In summer 1965, American Airlines only had one jet flight a day from Hobby, a Boeing 707 flying Houston-San Antonio-El Paso-Phoenix-Oakland-San Francisco.

[26] Eastern Boeing 720s flew nonstop to New York JFK Airport, Atlanta, New Orleans and San Antonio and direct to Boston and Philadelphia.

[27] By 1966, Houston-based Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) had introduced Douglas DC-9-10s with nonstop flights to Dallas Love Field, Corpus Christi and Baton Rouge and direct to New Orleans.

The service with Pan Am flew to London, England and Frankfurt, Germany daily with Boeing 707s via at Dallas Love Field and Chicago O'Hare Airport.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration recommended years earlier that Houston plan to replace Hobby.

[38] Also in 1966, Braniff was operating a joint international service via an interchange agreement with Pan Am to London, England and Frankfurt, Germany on a daily basis with Boeing 707 jetliners via intermediate stops at Dallas Love Field and Chicago O'Hare Airport.

[43] By fall 1979, Braniff and Texas International had ceased serving Hobby, however, two other jet airlines, Hughes Airwest and Ozark Air Lines, had joined Southwest at the airport, with Southwest operating Boeing 727-200s as well as 737-200s nonstop to Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas Love Field, Harlingen, Lubbock, San Antonio and its first destination outside Texas, New Orleans.

[44] Hughes Airwest (owned by Howard Hughes) was flying nonstop to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson and direct to Burbank (now Bob Hope Airport) and Orange County (now John Wayne Airport) while Ozark was flying nonstop to its hub in St. Louis; both airlines flew McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s.

[44] Hughes Airwest was acquired by and merged into Republic Airlines which in 1983 had a focus city operation at Hobby with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s, DC-9-50s and MD-80s nonstop to Chicago O'Hare Airport (ORD), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Detroit, Las Vegas, Memphis, New Orleans and Phoenix.

[52] At one point, Continental Airlines was operating Boeing 737-300s between Hobby and Houston Intercontinental and flying nonstop HOU to its Newark hub.

[61] United Airlines, Houston's other major carrier, which would later be forced to compete with Southwest on proposed international routes, has objected to the expansion plans, citing a study which concludes that the change would cost the Houston area jobs and result in a net reduction in GRP.

[62] Houston Mayor Annise Parker backed Southwest's fight to make Hobby an international airport on May 23, 2012.

[67][68] Frontier Airlines announced its entry to the airport with direct flights to Cancun, Las Vegas, and Orlando starting in May 2022.

[69] Just two months later Frontier Airlines announced a fourth flight from Hobby with a new Denver route starting in September.

[75] In March 2022, Southwest announced a $250 million expansion project to add seven gates to Hobby's west concourse.

[76] The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, stops at Curb Zone 3 at the airport.

40 Telephone/Heights provides local service to Eastwood Transit Center, Downtown, and North Shepard Park and Ride.

Additionally, regularly scheduled bus and shuttle service is provided by various carriers to locations from HOU to areas outside metropolitan Houston and to Galveston and College Station.

The artists created the work to depict the spirit of Houston's industrial force along the coastal plain.