Fifty years old ... New Orleans' airport looks forward

Who could forget the images of late summer 2005 at the New Orleans airport? Helicopters dotted the tarmac, military craft taxied in and out, and part of the terminal had been converted to a makeshift hospital.

The Big Easy has bounced back since those dark days – and so has the airport. But the terminal facility is still 50 years old. That puts Louis Armstrong New Orleans International “at a competitive disadvantage to other cities,” says Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “Crumbling infrastructure and other factors…drive up costs,” specifically the cost of airlines to operate out of MSY (that’s the airport’s code).

This is why Landrieu is asking the New Orleans Aviation Board to look at the possibility of building a new terminal on the north side of the field, or expanding the airport to the west of the existing facility.

Past proposals have been studied to death, to little avail. “For over 30 years we have studied this issue,” he says. “And we have collectively rejected proposals to move the airport to other locations. We cannot let another 30 years go by without a clear path forward.”

This doesn’t mean the current facility is standing still. Ground’s been broken on a new Consolidated Rental Car Facility, one that will house all rental cars in one convenient garage. More mundanely (but really important to people) is the recent complete renovation of 11 sets of restrooms, and the minor renovation of another nine sets of restrooms. Nothing bespeaks an airport’s commitment to the flying public as the way it keeps its public restrooms. The people who run MSY seem to understand this.

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International is the 47th-busiest airport on the continent according to Airports Council International – North America. That puts it just behind San Jose, and just ahead of Pittsburgh. In 2010 New Orleans handled some 8.2 million passengers.

Story by Jerry Chandler

(Image: Ken Lund)