BATON ROUGE METROPOLITAN AIRPORT

'Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport' , also known as 'Ryan Field', is a public airport located four miles (6 km) north of the central business district (CBD) of Baton Rouge, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, USA. It covers 1,250 acres and has three runways. Air Traffic Services are provided by dedicated Air Traffic Controllers in the Tower and the Terminal Radar Approach Control.
The airport was originally 'Harding Army Air Field' during World War II, but other than the runways, virtually no traces remain of the military installation.

Contents

Airlines and destinations

Concourse A

Concourse B

Cargo Carriers

Cargo Facility

Struggles

Hurricane Katrina

References

External links

Airlines and destinations

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport has 2 concourses.

Concourse A

Concourse A has 4 Gates: A1 - A4

★ Continental Airlines Gate A1 (Houston-Intercontinental)

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★ Continental Express operated by ExpressJet Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental)

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★ Continental Express operated by Chautauqua Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental)

★ Delta Air Lines Gates A2 and A4

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★ Delta Connection operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky)

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★ Delta Connection operated by Comair (Washington-Reagan)

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★ Delta Connection operated by Freedom Airlines (Orlando)

★ Northwest Airlines Gate A3 (Memphis)

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★ Northwest Airlink operated by Pinnacle Airlines (Memphis)

Concourse B

Concourse B has 3 Gates: B1 - B3

★ American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth[seasonal]) Gate B2

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★ American Eagle (Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth)

★ Frontier Airlines Gate B3

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★ Frontier Airlines operated by Republic Airlines (Denver)

Cargo Carriers

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport currently has a 33,000 square foot cargo facility. It is currently being expanded to 68,000 square feet.

Cargo Facility

★ FedEx (Memphis, New Orleans, Lafayette)

Struggles

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is notably small for a city and metro area of its size and is largely eclipsed by New Orleans' Armstrong International Airport located 80 miles to the southeast. Despite aggressive advertising campaigns encouraging passengers to utilize the airport, load factors were low (below 800,000 passengers per year) and fares were among the highest in the region.
Most of the service at the airport is provided by regional jets with a few mainline flights per day. The main regular flights include operatations by Delta Air Lines to Atlanta, Northwest Airlines to Memphis(DC9), Continental Airlines to Houston(Boeing 737), and American to Dallas. Hurricane Katrina temporarily increased the ridership with the closure of New Orleans airport.

Hurricane Katrina

After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, New Orleans International Airport was closed to commercial aviation traffic for a few months.
An apparent windfall for the struggling Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, with New Orleans International Airport closed, it was believed that in the immediate time ater katrina the passenger count at Baton Rouge Metro Airport could have hit 3 million per year but doesnt seem so, City of Baton Rouge Chief Administrative Officer Walter Monsour said
"All those air carriers that we have been courting for years are suddenly asking to come in," Monsour said.
As of this writing, existing carriers have increased capacity in Baton Rouge, adding flights and using larger planes. Some have speculated that the boom will be a temporary one noting that passenger traffic at New Orleans will rebound. As of December 2006 the New Orleans airport is the 6th busiest in the Southeast while Baton Rouge is the 13th busiest. According to New Orleans airport officials the New Orleans airport is operating at about 70% of pre-Katrina levels and by 2008 or 2009 passenger traffic is expected to have exceeded pre-Katrina levels. Rumors spread in early 2007 about a "mega-airport" that would serve both Baton Rouge and New Orleans that would be located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans along the I-10 corridor but Baton Rouge leaders say the idea would not work well for Baton Rouge's economy as the airport would have to be put closer to New Orleans to handle New Orleans's enormous tourist and convention flow. The state has not supported this idea, though there are plans for a "mega-airport" for cargo.

References

★ Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (official site)

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★ Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport terminal diagram

External links

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