Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport Tries to Recover After

Hurricane Katrina and 2006 Tornado Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is the main airport providing commercial air travel services to the metropolitan city of New Orleans in Louisiana. The airport itself is located within Kenner, Louisiana and is considered the second-biggest Gulf Coast airport in the entire United States. However, it is the City of New Orleans which owns the airport, strangely enough.

Things the airport is known for

It is the second lowest-lying airport among all the world's international airports since it was built just four feet above sea level. It used to be known by another name - Moisant Field airport - but was renamed back in 2001 to honor the memory of a popular New Orleans jazz musician called Louis Armstrong on his 100th birth anniversary. The airport was also previously the main hub for Latin American flights originating from the US, but nowadays handles

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is known for another fact as well - it has a terrific safety record which places it among the ranks of the safest US airports. Actually, there hasn't been a flight arriving at or headed from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport which has had an accident with fatalities for more than 17 years now.

The damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina

There was one time when the airport officially shut down - this was done in August 2005 in anticipation of the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded New Orleans. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport did allow humanitarian relief flights and military aircraft to come in though during the first part of September 2005. It re-started commercial flights gradually after the hurricane struck, with service provided initially by Northwest Airlines (headed to Memphis) and Delta Air Lines (for Atlanta). Eventually, other carriers such as American Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Southwest Airlines started using Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport again, with other airlines following soon after.

Though the hurricane hit New Orleans in 2005, up to now the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is still struggling to regain passenger capacity as it was before the hurricane struck. It is expected that the airport will be running at 75% of its pre-Katrina capacity by November 2007 (based on seat-count at each carrier per day.) By that time, 82% of the roundtrip service per day should have gone back to normal. Other flights which should be regaining ground by then are the number of scheduled non- stop domestic destination flights though scheduled non-stop international destination flights will have more difficulty getting back to pre-Katrina status.

The damage wrought by 2006 tornado

As if the hurricane wasn't enough, a tornado hit Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as well in February 2006, in the early hours of the morning. Some facilities (mostly in Concourse C) which had been under repair due to hurricane damage sustained further damage from the tornado. Fortunately, the airport community was quick to respond so that by late 2006, all the facilities damaged by the unexpected tornado had been adequately repaired.

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