NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The new approach to food and drink and retail concessions at New Orleans’ new airport terminal is a game changer from the old facility. Soon, the airport will also change up some of the rules that have long governed access to the airport concourse.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport will join a handful of airports across the country that allow people who do not have airline tickets to access the concourse, where nearly all of the new terminal’s much-discussed concessions are located. Right now, a boarding pass is required to pass through security to eat, drink or shop in the concourses.
The program, called MSY Guest Pass, is slated to begin after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, though a precise date has not been announced.
Aviation Director Kevin Dolliole said the program is aimed at giving the public a different way to access the $1 billion terminal.
“The terminal development is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the state’s history, and there’s an awful lot of interest in it from the community,” Dolliole said. “We have a strong desire to open it open to the community, to invite them in to see, feel, touch it.”