Super Bowl crowds B.R. airspace

Whether their team wins or loses, Super Bowl XLVII fans are looking to get out of New Orleans on Monday, and many are coming through Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport to do so. In fact, all available seats—approximately 1,700—on flights scheduled to depart from BTR on Monday have been booked, says airport spokesman Jim Caldwell. “But inbound, where people tend to be more flexible, we still have some [seats] there for Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” Caldwell says of the days leading up to the big game Sunday. Though the number of BTR flights scheduled around Super Bowl weekend did not increase, Caldwell says Delta upgraded three of its flights to utilize larger aircraft, which increased the number of seats on each by almost 50 going in and out of Baton Rouge. The airport schedules slightly more than 30 flights on a normal day. As of Monday afternoon, the airport also had reservations for 25 private jets to use BTR over Super Bowl weekend, including a 737 with seating reconfigured for fewer than 10 people, Caldwell says, adding that he expects the airport will have more reservations for private flights as Friday nears. Depending on the various sizes of the private jets that fly into Baton Rouge over the weekend, Caldwell says, the airport can park about 50 at a time. Of the commercial flights heading out of Baton Rouge Monday, eight are going to Dallas, eight are going to Houston, eight are going to Atlanta, three are going to Charlotte, and one is going to Memphis. —Adam Pearson