The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport has posted record amount of business both in passenger traffic and air cargo development after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Louisiana-Mississippi coast on Aug. 29, crippling commercial flights at Louis Armstrong International Airport at New Orleans.
While the numbers of passengers, car rentals and restaurant sales has increased dramatically at the airport, perhaps the biggest effect has been the amount of freight and mail the airport handles, now that air-shipping giant FedEx started new operations in Baton Rouge after the New Orleans airport was crippled.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the airport embarked on a new cargo facility that incorporated 33,000 square feet with the mission to develop air cargo operations at the airport. However, with FedEx leasing the entire facility and the increase in population in the Baton Rouge MSA as well as the need for additional air cargo handlers, the airport is looking to build an additional 68,000 square feet facility ultimately creating an Air Cargo Complex at the airport.
Airport officials hope to attract two other freight carriers when the new cargo facility is complete which could include DHL and UPS.
Thus far, FedEx and their subcontractors have brought approximately 100 jobs to the Baton Rouge marketplace. FedEx initially started operations with two flights per day, but most recently FedEx has expanded to four flights per day. FedEx is operating two Airbus 300 and two Boeing 727 aircraft to handle the extensive amount of freight and mail.
FedEx brought 3.9 million pounds of freight into the Baton Rouge airport during the last four months of 2005 — after Katrina — and flew out 3.9 million pounds. The cargo operator accounted for about 93 percent of the total 5.6 million pounds of freight that flew into the airport in 2005, and about 98 percent of the 5.2 million pounds that flew out of Baton Rouge last year.
Contrast that with 2004, when 310,397 pounds of freight and cargo came into the airport, and only 165,529 pounds flew out.
Airport records show that in 2004, only 552 pounds of mail was flown out of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. This was due in part that much of the local mail was being transported to New Orleans, where it was flown out by FedEx.
With the arrival of FedEx in Baton Rouge, the total amount of mail flown out of the airport increased to 721,841 pounds. FedEx started handling mail at the local airport in December 2005, and flew out 718,885 pounds of mail in one month of operation.
Freight and mail cargo operations continue to increase to all time highs. From January to August of 2006, freight-in – 7,277,133 pounds or an increase of 587.13%; freight-out – 6,926,453 pounds or an increase of 1330.41%; mail-in – 13,927,333 pounds or an increase of 13,481.68%; and mail-out – 9,237,975 pounds or an increase of 10,151,520%. The increases are compared to the amount freight and mail moved in 2005 month over month.
