Project Will Include New Hangars

Officials in New Orleans formally kicked off Wednesday a massive restoration project of the terminal building at New Orleans Lakefront Airport (NEW).

While some work actually began about a year ago, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the formal launch comes on the 75th anniversary of the airport. The original terminal building is among the oldest aviation properties in the country, and suffered significant damage in the 2005 onslaught of Hurricane Katrina.

Commissioned by Gov. Huey Long in 1929, the airport was completed in 1933 under the name Sushan Airport. The name was changed to New Orleans Airport in 1940, and the field supported commercial airline service for the area throughout World War II. The name 'Lakefront' Airport came in 1964, by which time airlines had relocated to Moisant Field -- we know that field today as Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY).

Among the most exciting aspects of the renovation effort will be the restoration of several original aviation murals and sculptures by Depression-era Work Progress Administration artists. Those artworks -- by such notables as Enrique Alferez and Xavier Gonzalez -- were covered when the airport was renovated in 1964.

In addition to restoring the Art Deco terminal building to its former glory, the Lakefront project also includes four new hangars to replace those lost in Katrina. The project is managed by the Orleans Levee District, Non-Flood Assets under the Louisiana Division of Administration.

FMI: www.lakefrontairport.com/