ATA Code: MSY
Address: 900 Airline Dr., Kenner, LA 70062 (11 miles west of downtown New Orleans)
Year Opened: Originally, Moisant Field was built on the Moisant Stock Yards, where early aviator John Bevins Moisant (1868-1910) crashed. The U.S. government took the land and built an airport for the Army Air Force in 1942. It was returned to the city following the war and opened for civilian use in 1946, moving commercial flights from Lakeside Airport to MSY.
Size: MSY covers 1,500 acres with two runways. It currently has one terminal with four gates. A new $993.7 million with 35 gates is scheduled to open on the north side of the runways in February 2019, replacing the current terminal south of the runways. In 2017 a record breaking 12,009,512 people came through the airport, making it the 37th busiest in the country.
Transportation: Bus service between the airport and downtown New Orleans is provided by New Orleans Regional Transit Authority Airport. Hotel shuttles ($20 one way), taxis, charter services and ride shares also service MSY.
Fun Facts:
MSY replaced a smaller, closer airport built in 1934 originally named Shushan Airport; now known as Lakeside Airport. It is still open as a private airport and kept the ATA airport code of NEW. Its classic Art Deco terminal was used as the headquarters of the fictional company Ferris Aircraft in the 2011 action hero film Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
MSY is the second lowest-lying international airport in the world. It is only an average of 4.5 feet above sea level. Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport is the lowest at 11 feet below sea level.
It was given its current name in July 2001, to honor the 100th anniversary of musical legend Louis Armstrong’s birth.
MSY was temporarily closed after it was submerged under two feet of water in the wake of a September 1947 Hurricane.
