Press Releases

BATON ROUGE, LA – November 14, 2018. Mike Edwards was appointed the Director of Aviation for the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (BTR) by the Metro Council at Wednesday’s meeting.

Mr. Edwards has served as Interim Director of Aviation since May, and previously held the Airport Operations Manager position at BTR. He has over 10 years of airport management experience, and worked at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport before coming to BTR.

Edwards holds a B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice Studies and Aviation Management from the University of North Dakota, and a Masters of Homeland Security from Tulane University. He has both his airplane single engine and helicopter private pilot licenses.

“I am honored to be appointed the Director of Aviation for the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport,” said Edwards. “I am excited to lead our experienced team, from growing our Aviation Business Park to expanding our list of nonstop flights and airline seating capacity. I look forward to the challenge of further developing BTR as an engine for economic development in our community.”

Mike grew up in the New Orleans Area and graduated from Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville, LA. He and his wife Courtney have been married for five years and have two young children, Ava and Abraham.

The Baton Rouge Metro Airport is the second largest airport in the State and Upper Gulf Region by passenger volume. The passenger volume was up 4% in 2017 at 775,508 passengers, and is up 4.3% year-to-date in 2018. Despite the challenge posed by its proximity to New Orleans, a recent review of 16 “peer” airports from Texas to Florida showed BTR to have the 2nd best passenger growth percentage and load factor (% of seats filled) among the peer group since 2009.