Metro Airport aims to use trust fund to expand air service

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has an aviation trust fund that historically has been put toward capital improvements. Officials with Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport have been pushing for two years for some of that money to be used for incentives to recruit more air service. Most other airports have been leery, fearing it would limit infrastructure improvements, although some are opening up to the idea, says Ralph Hennessy, assistant director of aviation at BTR. A recent opinion of Louisiana’s attorney general says the idea is permissible, and Hennessy says a study conducted last year supports the change. “We’re trying to utilize that study as well as change the mindset of everyone to get them on the bandwagon and use this money to improve air service to our airports,” he says. The Baton Rouge Area Chamber supports codifying the attorney general’s opinion in state law and creating an air service fund, but there has been no legislative action this year. About $29 million is allocated to the trust fund per year; about $24 million to $25 million goes to airports, Hennessy says. —David Jacobs