New Orleans airport welcomes record 13.1 million passengers in 2018

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport managed more than 13.1 million travellers in 2018. It was up by up 9.3 per cent from 2017. This was the fourth consecutive year of passenger growth at the airport.  In 2017, there were 12 million travellers flowing in and out of the airport.

A range of new routes were introduced including flights to Louisville, Sacramento, San Jose and Montego Bay, Jamaica. A new airline, leisure airliner Sun Country Airlines, which specializes in flights from the Midwest to vacation destinations in the U.S. and Caribbean, also started in 2018. It will be opening new U.S. dollars 1 billion airport terminal by May 15.

The new terminal will have 35 gates and three concourses behind a single, consolidated security checkpoint. The new terminal will also add parking, including a 2,190-space short-term garage, a 2,750-space long-term garage and a surface parking lot.

Recent additions include a Southwest Airlines flight to Cancun, launched in March 2018, and Vacation Express service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, launched in May 2018. Vacation Express will also return with seasonal flights to Montego Bay, Jamaica, in May 2019.

Overall, the airport saw an average of 159 flights day in 2018, nine more daily flights than the year prior, according to the airport’s news release. Since 2010, Passenger traffic has increased 60 per cent with record-breaking years in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Southwest Airlines remains the busiest operator of the 15 airlines that fly into and out of New Orleans, followed by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

Flights launching this year include: Alaska Airlines daily flights to Seattle; Allegiant Airlines seasonal service to Louisville, Missouri; Spirit Airlines daily flights to Austin and Denver; Spirit Airlines seasonal, twice-weekly flights to Philadelphia and daily nonstops to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

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