Lakefront Airport
Lakefront Airport, main terminal
IATA: NEW – ICAO: KNEW – FAA: 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 / 30.0425; -90.02833
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, it has since been supplanted in this arena by Louis Armstrong International Airport 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, but the art deco exterior was obscured by a new facade installed after World War II. The terminal building also houses a restaurant frequented by locals. 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 winds and storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While it was soon able to resume functioning, as of June 2008 many offices are still in temporary trailers. The terminal building has yet to reopen, and many of the hangers and outlying buildings were destroyed.

Contents 1 History 2 Facilities and aircraft 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] 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.

During World War II the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Force Third Air Force for antisubmarine patrols and training.

[edit] 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]

[edit] See also

• Louisiana World War II Army Airfields

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} FAA Airport Master Record for NEW (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-07-02.
2. ^ Brinkley, Alan "Voices of Protest" (Random House, 1882)30

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: New Orleans Lakefront Airport

• Lakefront Airport
• Story of the former name Shushan Airport
• FAA Airport Diagram for NEW(PDF), effective 19 Nov 2009
• FAA Terminal Procedures for NEW, effective 19 Nov 2009
• 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 for KNEW