High-end aviation company prepares for Super Bowl LI in 2017

HOUSTON – Companies in Houston are already thinking ahead to Super Bowl LI in 2017.

"The Super Bowl is by far the number one biggest private aviation event of the year," said president and CEO Roger Woolsey of Million Air at Hobby Airport in Houston.

Woolsey is rapidly expanding his private terminal at the airport. With a new, 22,000-square-foot, full service, private terminal, he explained, this is more than just a gas station for jets. He is expanding, not only for the Super Bowl, but the business that can come with positive exposure. Woolsey said, "It's so much more than just a game. We have a lot at stake."

Woolsey remembers how Hobby Airport closed a runway to make room to park hundreds of private jets that landed for the 2004 Super Bowl in Houston.

"It was astonishing," he exclaimed. "To put it any other way. We normally on a business day see between 75 airplanes a day. We had more than 1,000 aircraft in a 24 hour period during the last Super Bowl."

In addition to building a new terminal, Million Air built new hangers and poured more concrete to make room for more arriving jets. During the 2004 Super Bowl, Woolsey turned one hanger into a Super Bowl watch party for pilots. Woolsey said, "When they come to our city, we want to put on our best face to showcase what we have as a community."