Louis Armstrong International Airport

[JPKneworleans]

GREAT NEWS. NOW, let's get back a nonstop to San Francisco!

JetBlue launches nonstop service from N.O. to Boston

NEW ORLEANS

[tennis1400]

Awesome News! I lover Jet Blue! I may just have to make a little trek up to Boston for the heck of it!

[blackcoat]

The Louisiana House Transportation Committee approved Representative Jim Tucker's (R-Algiers) bill to create the Southeast Regional Airport Authority. This is part of a plan to give the state control over Louis Armstrong International Airport in exchange for funding larger public projects. The bill will head to the full House for debate. In the meantime, you can read the full text of HB 1272, the "Southeast Regional Airport Act", and if you want to skip the legalese, go straight to the Digest.

[djp4lsu]

The Louisiana House Transportation Committee approved Representative Jim Tucker's (R-Algiers) bill to create the Southeast Regional Airport Authority. This is part of a plan to give the state control over Louis Armstrong International Airport in exchange for funding larger public projects. The bill will head to the full House for debate. In the meantime, you can read the full text of HB 1272, the "Southeast Regional Airport Act", and if you want to skip the legalese, go straight to the Digest.

[tennis1400]

I tend to like it as well! The airport now isnt very great so I dont think there is much to be lost! And part of the problem with the vendors in the airport is how everyone is trying to get there hands in the pot! There are so many things to be improved! It may not solve things by changing hands, but it certainly isnt working well as is! So lets give this a shot!

[JPKneworleans]

I can think of a downside. More representation by Kenner and/or St. Charles Parish could block a new runway. However, making the airport a truly regional airport would be a huge and symbolic step toward regional government, which we are lacking. Hell, the RTA isn't even regional. It's supposed to be, but RTA busses run in Orleans only (with a few exceptions for park and ride, I think).

If the city gets the money from the sale, I hope the state law requires a committee of ethical people to be in charge of disbursing the money on projects that are deemed most vital from a cost-benefit standpoint. I can think of several ethical and known people who could be on the committee: Stacey Head, Arnie Fielkow, Ruthie Frierson, Karen Carter, LaToya Cantrell (president and miracle worker of Broodmoor Improvement Association), and maybe Ron Foreman, among others.

The last thing we need is some mayoral committee choosing projects and rigging the bid specifications so that only one bidder can meet the qualifications. (Case in point: recent RFP by S&WB regarding pumps). A specific brand of pump was specified, and a single, well-connected company just happens to have the exclusive distributorship in Louisiana. The company charged double what similar pumps cost and nearly double the amount charged for the same brand/make/model of the pump priced out in Texas..

A half billion dollars can go a LONG way...as long as City Hall cronies are not involved.

This is just my opinion.

[blackcoat]

As far as whether or not this plan is a good idea, the devil is in the details. The New Orleans City Council is wary about the airport transfer largely because of its lack of details. HB 1272 only creates the Southeast Regional Airport Authority, but does not say anything of the portion of the plan involving 500 million dollars of state funding for projects in New Orleans.

[NCB]

Southwest is adding three new nonstop's to MSY:

• August- A new daily nonstop to Denver

• October- A new daily nonstop to Orlando (5 flights between the two cities)

• Fall '08- A new daily nonstop to Birmingham (3 flights between the two cities)

In a press release, the carrier said that "through the elimination of 39 existing round-trip flights from its current flight schedule, (Southwest CEO Gary) Kelly said Southwest today has added 46 new round-trip flights in key growth market cities such as Denver and New Orleans."

[NCB]

Some good news for Armstrong International:

Photo courtesy of Parsons

Passenger counts up at N.O. airport

According to figures released by the airport Monday, the total number of departing passengers rose 11.4 percent to 355,368 from 318,960. The year-to-date figure is 2,153,100, up 13.9 percent from 1,889,601 in the same period last year.

The number of passengers getting off a plane in New Orleans rose to 359,787 in June, an increase of 12.7 percent from 319,301 in June 2007. The year-to-date figure is 2,140,205, an increase of 14.1 percent over 1,876,185 in the same period last year.

New Orleans CityBusiness

Based on the stats from the first six months of the year, Armstrong International is on track to serve about 8.6 million passengers in 2008, up from 7.5 million in 2007 and 5.9 million in 2006. Armstrong's all time high came in 2004, when the airport served over 9.7 million passengers. Much like the rest of the area, the airport's recovery started off slowly, but has accelerated very quickly over the past couple of years. If Armstrong Int'l gets near that 8.6 million passangers served figure, it will be a 34% increase over the number of passengers it served in 2006 following Katrina.

[SlidellWX]

Very impressive growth. It has to be the fastest in the country on a year over year basis.

[SUSAstudent]

Im sure these people know what they are doing! I just never realized those things were that expensive!