New Orleans moves to privatize airport

Routes and Airports Channel

New Orleans moves to privatize airport

By Adele C. Schwartz
ATW's Airports Today, October, 2009, p.3

By year end the City of New Orleans plans to issue a request for qualifications from organizations interested in leasing its Louis Armstrong International Airport and downtown heliport. It expects to ask for bids next spring and send a final application for privatization to FAA by the fall of 2010, a spokesperson for Armstrong International tells this newsletter.

Length of the lease and amount paid for it will be determined during the bidding process, spokesperson Michelle Wilcut says, adding that the bidder will be required to maintain debt service or retire the airport's outstanding bonds. Any agreement must be approved by airlines accounting for 65% of MSY's operations.

FAA has given preliminary approval to New Orleans' application for the medium-airport slot in its pilot privatization program. The City of Chicago has not withdrawn its application for the large-airport slot, although its deal to lease Midway Airport crumbled earlier this year for lack of funding.

ATW

Channels

Routes and Airports Channel

New Orleans moves to privatize airport

ATW Media Group

Penton Media