Moving on: The Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans is losing its aviation director after six years. The Providence Journal in Rhode Island reports that Iftikhar Ahmad is leaving New Orleans to become president of the Rhode Island Airport Corp., where he will focus on growing the T.F Green Airport, an international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island. Ahmad will start his new job on Oct. 13. The announcement of Ahmad’s resignation comes one week after the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport announced that its director, Anthony Marino, will resign and is pursuing another opportunity in the aviation industry. Read the full story.
Plus one: Louisiana added one new rig this week, according to the latest weekly tally from Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes. For the week ending today, Louisiana has 41 active rigs, up from last week’s tally of 40. The state had 72 rigs around this time last year. The U.S. rig count increased by 11 this week, bringing the nation’s total tally to 522. There were 511 active rigs one week ago. The U.S. had 809 active rigs around this time one year ago.
Rising: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Sept. 24 increased from the previous week’s total. The Associated Press reports that the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s figures released today show that the initial claims rose to 2,443 from the previous week’s total of 2,402. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,342. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,577 from the previous week’s average of 3,136. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Sept. 24 decreased to 25,602 compared to 27,190 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 27,290 from the previous week’s average of 27,636.
