The Baton Rouge Metro Airport Commission’s new chairman, Jared Smith, wants to study ways to spur new business at the local airport. Smith, who took over as chairman on Jan. 1 after serving on the commission for one year, says he would like to examine as much data as possible to find any potential opportunities for new air service the airport may be missing.
“The airport does a great job right now in analyzing the data it has access to,” says Smith, who’s also an executive with the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. “I think what we need to do is dig a little deeper and see if there is something we don’t know about that would encourage new business.”
Smith also wants to continue development of the Aviation Business Park, an airport-owned business park that includes several commercial tenants. The 700-acre park has more than 350 acres of available, shovel-ready land and serves as a source of revenue for the airport.
“It is very important we continue to grow operations at the airport because the airport needs revenue streams—otherwise we become a burden on the city parish,” Smith says. “We’ve always been self-sustaining, which is fantastic and as the airport grows, as there are new things we want to do we have to have revenue streams to make those things possible.”
Smith’s third goal for the year is to increase usage of the airport among local travelers. Getting more passengers to use Baton Rouge versus the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans is the surest way to demonstrate to national airlines the need for more flights to and from the local airport.
“We need people to understand by the time you drive down to New Orleans and park it’s not any easier or cheaper than flying from here and catching a connector flight in Dallas or Houston,” he says. “I think we need to do a good job in letting people see the whole picture.” —Stephanie Riegel
