| Houston Gulf Airport | |
| Icao: | KSPX |
| Type: | Public |
| City-Served: | Houston, Texas |
| Location: | League City, Texas |
| Elevation-F: | 21 |
| Elevation-M: | 6.4 |
| Coordinates: | 29.5083°N -95.0514°W |
| R1-Number: | 13/31 |
| R1-Length-F: | 4,999 |
| R1-Length-M: | 1,524 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt (Closed) |
| Stat-Year: | 2002 |
| Stat1-Header: | Aircraft operations |
| Stat1-Data: | 66/day |
| Stat2-Header: | Based aircraft |
| Stat2-Data: | 80 |
| Footnotes: | Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] |
Houston Gulf Airport was a single-runway airport located in eastern League City, Texas, United States.[2] Its FAA code was SPX[3] and its IATA code was also SPX.[4]
The airport opened in 1967 as the Spaceland Airport, a name related to the Johnson Space Center, located about 4 miles north of the airport.
A businessperson named James R. Bath purchased the airport on behalf of Salem bin Laden in 1977. Bath received a 5 percent interest in the companies that own and operate the airport.[5] Salem bin Laden owned the airport for six years before his death in 1988.[6] After Salem bin Laden died, the airport, now owned by his estate, was for sale.[6] [7]
The airport was scheduled to close on April 1, 2002. A coalition of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and some local pilots created a campaign asking for the City of League City to acquire the airport from its owner.[8] The airport's land was sold and the land became a string of houses along Texas State Highway 96.[9] The group of houses are part of a 2,000-house community called Tuscan Lakes.[10]