Press Releases
Baton Rouge Metro Airport Hosts Ribbon Cutting For New Multiplex Facility
News Release - Baton Rouge, LA –For Immediate Release, January 9, 2018
The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport hosted a ribbon-cutting today for its new Emergency/National Disaster Multiplex. The 24,000 square foot facility, which was in the planning stages for nearly a decade as funding sources were pursued, is located in the Airport’s Aviation Business Park on the north end of the airfield.
Interim Director of Aviation Ralph Hennessy said, "As witnessed by Katrina and the flooding, the Baton Rouge Metro Airport needed an area to park large military transport aircraft, supply relief warehousing, and provide an emergency operations center with meeting rooms and office space.” Hennessy noted that the Multiplex can also serve a wide range of non-emergency uses for the region such as personnel training for emergency-response preparedness.
After Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, the Airport was the primary disaster relief staging area for the National Guard, FEMA, and other relief organizations. When the Airport had to improvise by staging the organizations at multiple locations throughout the airfield, the need for a permanent airport disaster relief facility and a military transport aircraft parking area became apparent.
The benefits of the new facility include:
Allow the airport to provide staging facilities and additional services without impinging on normal airport operations.
Provide the functional emergency operations center and relief warehouse critical to saving lives.
Offer a strategic location along the Gulf Coast halfway between Houston and Mobile to serve as a key disaster relief multiplex for a large region.
About BTR
The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is the second largest airport in Louisiana and the upper Gulf Region by passenger volume. It is served by the major, network airlines – American, Delta, and United – with hub flights that provide access to destinations worldwide. While the airport is a major economic generator for the Baton Rouge area, it is administered as an Enterprise Fund, generating its own revenues for operations as opposed to receiving local tax funds.