There was another interesting development with CO in Houston: the HOU-IAH and EFD-IAH crosstown flights. Back around 1986-87, HOU-IAH was operated with a DC-9-14 featuring a modified livery with the title "Continental's Houston Proud Express". I think this service was actually operated by Emerald Air. Later on, HOU-IAH was operated with a Beechcraft 1900D and even with a 733. I liked the fact that you could see out the front of the 1900D as the flight deck door was open - landings were great (was there even a door to begin with?). And one day on the 733 HOU-IAH run, there were just 12 pax on board. So the flight attendants moved everybody up to F! Later on, CoEx operated the ER3/ER4 EFD-IAH. There was free parking at EFD and, of course, the extra 1000 EQMs were earned RT.

Even earlier, Houston Metro operated initially as independent carrier between Clear Lake City and IAH with the DHC-6 "Twin Otter". A STOLport was created in cow pasture off state highway 3 near the NASA Johnson Space Center just south of EFD (this short runway is long gone having being swallowed up by development years ago). A special STOL runway was also created at IAH as well so the DHC-6s would not have to mix with the jet traffic. This service eventually became an EA code share.