Houston Metro Airlines

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Houston Metro Airlines emerged in 1969 as a Houston-area commuter carrier, later known simply as Metro Airlines. Its early mission was wonderfully specific: get people between Houston Intercontinental, Hobby, and Clear Lake City, near the NASA Johnson Space Center, without making them contemplate the freeway.

The airline operated de Havilland Canada Twin Otter turboprops and built its own Clear Lake City STOLport, complete with a short runway, terminal, and maintenance hangar. By 1970, its schedules advertised an intense rhythm of weekday airport shuttles—a compact regional-airline answer to Houston’s sprawling geography.

The Houston name was dropped by 1973 as Metro expanded beyond its original local identity. Metroflight, its Dallas/Fort Worth-area operation, later flew regional service under the American Eagle banner beginning in November 1984. The little shuttle airline had graduated from cross-town hops to the complicated big leagues of airline partnerships. Naturally, paperwork was waiting at the gate.

Metro Airlines entered Chapter 11 protection in April 1991. In 1992, Simmons Airlines agreed to acquire most Metroflight assets, and Metro ceased operations in 1993. The name survived in timetables, aircraft photographs, and the eternal regional-airline promise that the next departure is probably boarding now.

Our Houston Metro Airlines collection celebrates a Texas commuter original: Twin Otters, STOLport swagger, NASA-adjacent ambition, and the beautifully unglamorous art of making a short hop feel like the future.