HOUSTON – It’s the busiest time of the year for travel and because of this, the Houston Airport System (HAS) is seeing more traffic than ever. In 2024, HAS enjoyed a record-breaking year with 63.1 million passengers.
Plenty of travelers walking through an airport system that has plenty of art, approximately 390 pieces with an appraised value of over $30 million dollars according to HAS leadership.
The art was purchased with public dollars through major capital improvement projects, where a nearly 20-year-old city ordinance requires 1.75% of the project’s budget be used to purchase art,
“Quite frankly I like art, but I like parking at the airport and access and picking up the baggage more than I do art,” said Mayor John Whitmire.
Houston Airport System Director Jim Szczesniak is a fan of the art. In fact, in the spring of 2024, he told city council exactly how proud he was of the airport’s collection, “We get more people looking at the art in our airports than the Louvre does in France,” said Szczesniak.
Come again?
People visit the Louvre for one primary reason, to see priceless art including the famed Mona Lisa. On the other hand, there is a clear reason why people go to Houston Airport System, “You go to the airport to pick someone up or catch a plane,” said Mayor Whitmire.
It’s not hard to spot costly art hanging around at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. At the TSA checkpoint there is a $2.65 million dollar blown glass installation that floats right over passengers. However, our cameras captured no one is looking up at the artwork when they are about to go through TSA, “We are in total agreement,” said Whitmire after seeing our video.
The art that caught 2 Investigates attention the most were 18 pieces located in an out-of-sight hallway that, unless you are an American Express platinum card holder, you probably will never see as it is the hallway that leads to the AM/Ex Centurion Lounge.
KPRC 2’s Mario Diaz speaking to Houston Airport System Director Jim Szczesniak (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)
Almost every traveler we saw ignored the art, even those sitting directly in front of it. In fact, we pointed out to Szczesniak that during our entire interview no one got up to look at the art, “I guess some people are enjoying the art and they glance up at it,” said Szczesniak
What was Mayor Whitmire’s reaction to the video showing passengers flying by the art without taking a peek? “I’m going to ask you right now, will you send that to me because that is going to be part of the discussion,” said Whitmire.
When asked if travelers were looking at the art? Whitmire snapped, “Hell no!”, then added, “It would be interesting to hear the justification.”
Szczesniak had a different viewpoint from his boss.
He defended the art pieces, their locations and overall costs. He also views it as a selling point, “We have to remember that we have this connecting passenger traffic that is through here right, so we want to make sure we are competitive with other airports, so if I go to other airports I know a bunch of them that have terrible art programs and I don’t want to connect through them,” said Szczesniak.
What does Mayor Whitmire think? “I think we ought to do a review, an audit,” he said.
The mayor’s final takeaway to what 2 Investigates discovered, “Thank you for bringing it to me, we are going to have a grown up discussion about art at the airport and the best use of the art fund,” said Whitmire.
We did reach out to the airports in San Antonio, Austin and Dallas to see the airports in those Texas cities had purchased any art with a value of $2.5 million dollars or more? San Antonio and Austin both said no. We have yet to hear back from Dallas.
Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.