Inside the high-stakes nerve center of Bush Airport

For the first time, TSA, police and operations share one room — transforming how Houston’s largest airport responds to everything from weather delays to global events.

Aug 26, 2025

At George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), the only constant is motion. Flights land and depart in an unbroken rhythm. Weather shifts without warning. Passengers surge through terminals, and hundreds of decisions—large and small—must be made in real time. In 2024, Bush Airport welcomed a record 48 million passengers. 2026 is poised to be even busier. The city of Houston is scheduled to host the FIFA World Cup for the first time. A surge of soccer fans is expected to swell the airport next summer, which is why this summer’s official activation of the new Integrated Coordination Center (ICC) is significant.

The rows of workstations glow with real-time feeds — weather radars, gate assignments and a live map of every plane moving in the Houston airspace. The ICC feels more like mission control than an airport office, and in many ways, it is.

For the first time in Houston Airport System history, all the critical players who keep Bush Airport moving — from TSA and Houston Police Department to maintenance dispatch and terminal operations — are working side-by-side, eyes on the same information, speaking in the same room.

“By bringing everyone under one roof, we’ve torn down the silos,” says Stephen Mamo, senior division manager of the ICC and Emergency Operations Center at Bush Airport for Houston Airports. “We’re streamlining communication, making collaborative decisions and improving our ability to respond — in real time — to whatever the day brings.”

Mamo shared that the ICC has been five years in the making. Houston Airports studied best practices from across the country, drawing inspiration from top-tier hubs and adding features explicitly designed for Houston’s needs. The result is a state-of-the-art operational center that can pivot from everyday monitoring to full-scale emergency management in seconds.

When a hurricane approaches the Gulf, the ICC becomes a 24/7 war room. When a major diversion strands multiple aircraft, gate control can work directly with airline partners to find solutions without waiting for an email or a call to bounce between offices. And when soccer fans land at Bush Airport in 2026, the ICC will coordinate security, traffic and passenger movement for record-breaking crowds.

For passengers, the changes are invisible — and that’s the point. Whether it’s keeping restrooms operational, securing the airfield perimeter or rerouting travelers when weather disrupts a flight, the ICC’s job is to make the journey from plane to curb feel seamless.

“It’s about accurate, timely information,” Mamo says. “It’s about safety, clarity and making sure that, even on the most challenging days, people feel confident traveling through Houston.”