- New Orleans Lakefront Airport
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Lakefront Airport 
Lakefront Airport, main terminal, 2010 IATA: NEW – ICAO: KNEW – FAA LID: NEW Summary Airport type Public Owner Louisiana Division of Administration Serves New Orleans, Louisiana Elevation AMSL 8 ft / 2 m Coordinates 30°02′33″N 090°01′42″W / 30.0425°N 90.02833°W Runways Direction Length Surface ft m 9/27 3,113 949 Asphalt 18L/36R 3,697 1,127 Asphalt 18R/36L 6,867 2,093 Asphalt Statistics (2006) Aircraft operations 29,676 Based aircraft 97 Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1] Lakefront Airport (IATA: NEW, ICAO: KNEW, FAA LID: NEW) is a public use airport located four nautical miles (7 km) northeast of the central business district of New Orleans, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is owned by the Louisiana Division of Administration.[1]
Originally the major commercial airport in the New Orleans area, Lakefront Airport relinquished that role in 1946 when commercial airline service began from Louis Armstrong International Airport, a significantly larger facility located in the nearby suburb of Kenner. Lakefront Airport continues to serve as a general aviation airport with charter, private, and occasional military operations taking place. The terminal building's interior retains much of its original lavish 1930s decoration, and the art deco exterior, obscured for decades by a "bomb-proof" facade installed after World War II, has recently been returned to its original appearance. The terminal building housed a restaurant frequented by nearby residents, the Walnut Room, but this has yet to reopen, post-Katrina. The sculpture installation in front of the terminal, "Fountain of the Winds" by Enrique Alferez, is a local landmark.
Lakefront Airport was damaged by hurricane-force winds and the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a number of the hangars and outlying buildings were destroyed. While the airport soon resumed functioning, restoration of the terminal building and other facilities proceeds slowly. With the exterior of the main terminal fully restored however, the classic Art Deco building was used as the headquarters of the fictional company Ferris Aircraft in the 2011 action hero film Green Lantern (film) starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
Contents
History
The airport was constructed in the mid 1930s by Huey Long on a man-made peninsula dredged by the Orleans Levee Board, jutting into Lake Pontchartrain on the Eastern New Orleans side of the Industrial Canal. It was originally named Shushan Airport after Levee Board president Abraham Shushan. The airport was inaugurated on 10 February 1934. Visitors noticed that every doorknob, window sill, countertop, and plumbing fixture either had the name or the initials of Abe Shushan.[2] The airport was soon thereafter renamed New Orleans Airport, and was assigned the airport code "NEW", which it retains despite its current name.
Main terminal in late 2005, before restoration
During World War II the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Force and housed the Tropical Weather School in 1945.
At the start of the 1960s thick concrete panels were added to the main terminal building to turn it into a Cold War era bomb shelter.
Lakefront Airport was badly damaged by storm surge during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While the airport was quickly brought back to service, many facilities remained in temporary trailers for years.
Post-Katrina reconstruction at the airport has included restoration of the main terminal building's original Art Deco facade.
Facilities and aircraft
Lakefront Airport covers an area of 473 acres (191 ha) at an elevation of 8 feet (2 m) above mean sea level. It has three asphalt paved runways: 9/27 is 3,113 by 75 feet (949 x 23 m); 18L/36R is 3,697 by 75 feet (1,127 x 23 m); 18R/36L is 6,867 by 150 feet (2,093 x 46 m).[1]
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 29,676 aircraft operations, an average of 81 per day: 86% general aviation, 7% military, 7% air taxi and <1% scheduled commercial, At that time there were 97 aircraft based at this airport: 65% single-engine, 29% multi-engine, 5% jet and 1% helicopter.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for NEW (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-07-02.
- ^ Brinkley, Alan "Voices of Protest" (Random House, 1882)30
External links
- Lakefront Airport
- Story of the former name Shushan Airport
- FAA Airport Diagram for NEW (PDF), effective 20 October 2011
- FAA Terminal Procedures for NEW, effective 20 October 2011
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KNEW
- ASN accident history for NEW
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart, Terminal Procedures for KNEW
Categories:- 1935 establishments in the United States
- Airports in Louisiana
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Louisiana
- USAAF Central Technical Training Command
- Structures affected by Hurricane Katrina
- Transportation in New Orleans, Louisiana
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Corps
- Art Deco architecture in Louisiana
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