Armstrong International Reports 2007 Year End Numbers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --- February 12, 2008 --- The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport served 7,516,533 passengers in 2007 or 77% of the all time high of 9,733,179 passengers who used Armstrong International in 2004.

“Armstrong International Airport continues to show tremendous growth as the region continues to recover from Hurricane Katrina,” stated Sean Hunter, Director of Aviation. “The growth over 2006 was 20.9% and we expect the growth of passengers and flights to continue as the region continues to rebuild,” concluded Hunter.

December’s passengers totaled 620,356 or 81% of the 763,162 passengers that used the airport in December 2004 and an increase of 7% from December 2006.

Mail and Freight handled at Armstrong was down slightly with 98,945,298 pounds of freight and mail being handled in 2007, a 2.5% decrease from 2006.

Air Carrier flight operations for the year totaled 85,885 commercial flight operations, compared to 72,338 in 2006 for an increase of 18.8%. The number of flight operations has grown throughout the year and ended the year with 132 daily passenger departures in December.

Southwest Airlines remains the volume leader in New Orleans with 25.4% of the market, down from 31% in 2004. Continental, the first carrier to resume a full schedule following Hurricane Katrina captured 15.1%. American and AirTran, who also operate a full schedule, captured 15.2% and 4.4% of the market respectively. Delta has12.39%; United 9.0%; US Airways 9.2%; Northwest 4.6%; and JetBlue with 2.4% of the market. Newcomer, ExpressJet has captured 2.1% of the market for 2007, after entering the market in April.

For further information on Armstrong International Airport including current flight information, log on to the Airport’s web site at www.flymsy.com.

For further information, contact Michelle C. Wilcut, Public Relations Manager, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, at 504-464-3547 or 504-628-0250 (cell).