"Potty Parity at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport"

Sunday, March 11, 2007

PLEASANT PASSAGES
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is preparing to invest $20
million in its terminals, to make them more appealing and comfortable 
By Jaquetta White
The New Orleans (LA) Times-Picayune


Sean Hunter is on a mission to achieve "potty parity." 

That's what the interim director of aviation at Louis Armstrong New Orleans
International Airport is calling a newly launched $20 million plan to
improve the look and feel of the airport's terminals, the first phase of
which is to update the facility's restrooms. 

Think more spacious bathroom stalls, marble countertops and hands-free
faucets and toilets, to start. Once restroom renovations are complete, the
airport plans to roll out new signage, remodeled ticket counters and
terminals and an exterior facelift. 

Hunter, who took over the airport's top slot in May, said the list of
capital improvements will bring the aging facility "up to modern times."
However, the improvements will not have a direct link to increasing air
service from the airport. 

The restroom upgrades are set to begin this year. Completing all of the
improvements could take a year. 

"These are improvements we believe go a long way toward coming back from
Katrina," Hunter said. "The improvements will allow you to extend the
current use of the facility." 

Some of the planned changes could go unnoticed by airport users. For
instance, moving the giant baggage scanners that now occupy space near
check-in counters is a huge logistical task -- it requires relocating some
offices -- that will provide more space and a cleaner look but probably
won't win the airport any design awards. The scanners will be moved behind
the ticketing area, where they will be out of the sight of travelers. 

Others, such as the restroom modification, are more likely to make a splash,
Hunter said. 

The airport will spend about $20 million to upgrade its interior and
exterior this year. The improvements will be paid for with insurance
proceeds and the passenger fee the airport charges its patrons for usage. 

"I know when folks think about it, they think $20 million is a lot of
money," said Hunter, who previously served as the airport's deputy director
of operations and maintenance. "I'm not going to stand for returning the
airport to its current level. It's got to be better." 

Outdated design 

The airport, which is located in Kenner but owned by New Orleans, opened in
the mid-1940s. Its design, Hunter said, is reminiscent of "1960s-style
linear terminals," which allow little natural light in, a direct contrast to
more modern airports that are brighter, a result of large window
installations. 

To bring Louis Armstrong on par with those facilities, the plan is to
redesign the upper and lower curbside check-in areas to install glass walls
from end to end instead of the current design of aluminum siding and glass
doors, so that passengers can see through to the indoor ticket counters from
their cars. The goal is to give the facility a look more like a storefront. 

"For arriving passengers, it not only allows them to focus on where their
airline is, but more importantly, it has the look of window shopping,"
Hunter said. "It just appears to be a more inviting atmosphere for the
customer." Other outdoor improvements will include replacing terminal
signage and installing a new ventilation system for car exhaust that often
appears to be trapped in the pick-up area outside the baggage claim. 

Inside, the airport is replacing its Flight Information Display System with
flat screens and bringing a "more modern" design to the ticket counters. The
worn chairs in waiting areas of the terminals will be replaced with more
comfortable models that will match throughout the building, Hunter said. And
the airport is considering relocating a jazz mural that overlooks the main
terminal because it blocks a window. 

But the most ambitious project, and the first the airport will embark on, is
the restroom upgrade. As many as 1,400 to 1,600 passengers are boarding or
deboarding planes at one time. 

"You have to have restrooms to accommodate that," Hunter said. 

The airport is working with design firms on plans to turn the cramped,
unattractive restrooms into more spacious, appealing spaces. As planned the
restrooms would have marble countertops, hands-free toilets and faucets and
maybe even advertisements on the walls, Hunter said. 

"It's not just making it all bigger," he said. "We know what we want." 

Instead of doing all the improvements at once, the changes will be done
piecemeal, beginning with the restrooms, to create as little disturbance as
possible. 

Usage increasing 

The customer-focused upgrades are expected to do little to increase air
service or capacity at Louis Armstrong. 

Air service has been slowly climbing since the storm and reached its highest
level since Katrina -- 110 daily flights and 13,465 seats -- last month
during Mardi Gras. But the gains were only temporary. 

Service is expected to fall to 109 daily flights and 13,106 seats this month
and won't increase on a more permanent basis until upstart ExpressJet
Airlines introduces new service in May. When that happens the airport will
have 121 daily flights, or 75 percent of its pre-Katrina flights, and 13,706
seats, or 66 percent of its pre-Katrina seats. 

Capital improvements that produce the most noticeable impact are those that
directly increase air service and capacity, said Paula Hochstetler,
president of the Airports Consultant Council, who is not familiar with the
plans at Louis Armstrong. However, she said, with pressure on airports to
generate "nonaeronautical revenue," such as that generated by concessions
and stores, improvements that drive people to those places make sense. 

That's what Hunter is hoping will happen. 

"For a long time folks have endured flying, when they once used to enjoy
flying," Hunter said. "We want to make that experience more hospitable, more
pleasing to them." 

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ushered in a wave of airport
security requirements, air travel has become more of a hassle, Hunter said.
Although the time spent passing through security checkpoints has lessened,
the headache most air passengers associate with those checkpoints has not,
he said. 

"We want to make that experience more hospitable, more pleasing to them." 

Such change also can help to rebuild the tourism industry. 

"The airport is the first impression visitors get of the city," said John
Williams, director of the Lester A. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and
Tourism Administration at the University of New Orleans. "An atmosphere that
is quite warm when (visitors) arrive is a huge added value." 

A more "aesthetically pleasing" airport also can drive locals to fly instead
of using other means of transportation, Williams said. That would increase
demand for air service and could help to get more airlines into New Orleans.


The current plans are not a replacement for previously discussed plans to
expand or relocate the airport, Hunter said. New Orleans officials have long
discussed building a second north-south runway in the St. Charles Parish
LaBranche Wetlands. The city also has considered building a new airport in
the Bonnet Carré Spillway or in eastern New Orleans. 

But Hunter said those plans are on hold until air traffic reaches normal
levels. 

"When we approach pre-Katrina levels, we'll pull those old plans off the
shelf, dust them off and see how they fit," Hunter said. 

The airport also is considering ways to accommodate more technologically
advanced travelers. 

"The traveling public is a lot more sophisticated than they used to be,"
Hunter said. "They prefer electronic ticketing and online check-in." 

Louis Armstrong is hoping to take those aspects a step further with off-site
baggage check-in, modeled after a service introduced in the United States at
McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Travelers there can check their
bags from their hotel room and have them sent off to the airport before they
arrive. Hunter said the same system could apply here, eliminating some
hassle for business travelers who hurry from meetings to the airport and
onto a plane with little time to spare at check-in. The airport also is
working on an alert system that would send a message to a passenger's cell
phone as they walk through the airport alerting them to where certain shops
and restaurants are located. 

"We're going to be constantly in the mode of change," Hunter said.

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