Grounded international flights set to return to N.O. in 2007

New Orleans CityBusiness, Oct 16, 2006 by Jaime Guillet

Not content to leave returning air service on autopilot, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport officials say nonstop international flights to Canada and Latin America will return in 2007.

Officials have been negotiating for the return of the airport's pre-Hurricane Katrina international carriers - TACA (Central American Air Transportation) of El Salvador and Montreal-based Air Canada - and are confident both will come back early next year.

"The two best shots are TACA and Air Canada, largely because they've both been here before and they only pulled out because of the storm," said Larry Johnson, Armstrong manager of commercial developments. "I got the feeling (Air Canada) would be back by first quarter 2007. They want to come back."

Negotiations have been positive with Mexican carriers Aero Mexico and Mexicana, particularly with the spike in the Hispanic population in New Orleans. A completely new service could begin sometime in 2007, said Johnson.

Johnson said negotiations with TACA have been less fruitful. The carrier wants Armstrong and the state to provide incentives such as free landing and terminal fees for one year.

"They've told us they're interested but they need these incentives," said Johnson. "They haven't indicated a willingness to take the risk. They want us to take the risk."

Despite the incentive snag, Johnson and Carolyn Lowe, airport deputy director of commercial management, remain optimistic about TACA returning soon.

"We are crossing our fingers. We believe that we will get TACA back and I'm going to say first quarter of next year," said Lowe.

Officials from TACA and Air Canada did not respond to interview requests.

The international flight market was not big pre-Katrina. In August 2005, TACA and Air Canada - through its subsidiary Air Canada Jazz - had a combined year-to-date total of 387 aircraft arrivals for 1 percent of the airport's market share.

International carriers have a hard time servicing New Orleans because its convention market features spurts of demand rather than a steady hum of business travelers.

New Orleans also has no hub airline. The closest hubs are in Dallas for American and Southwest airlines and Atlanta, home to Delta.

"A vast majority of passengers come to us as opposed to actually originating here because we don't have a home airline. We don't have an airline that hubs here," Lowe said. "We don't have the advantage of the multiplier effect that a hub would have."

Kim Priez, vice president of tourism for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, said international interest is growing but having no hub hurts.

"We found that international travel to New Orleans was always a challenge because we were deprived of direct service," said Priez. "The more direct you can travel the more convenient. Visitors prefer to travel direct therefore we would attract more visitors (from) our overseas markets."

The NOMCVB still works to attract international visitors to New Orleans because their average stay in the United States is 21 days. The NOMCVB has partnered with Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta to tout three-city tours called Rhythms of the South.

Priez said the fastest-growing international market for New Orleans is Canada followed by the United Kingdom.

"We're very aggressive working these markets even though we don't have that service," said Priez. "It's been successful."

A jump in queries from Indonesia, Japan and China could result in added air service from Asian carriers in the distant future, said Priez.

Sean Hunter, LANOIA interim aviation director, said Armstrong will continue to push for more international service.

"It's needed just as much as domestic," said Hunter.