Press Releases

News Release - Baton Rouge, LA –For Immediate Release, January 11, 2018

Baton Rouge Metro Airport (BTR) passenger enplanements for 2017 were up 4%. A total of 775,408 passengers traveled through the airport in during 2017 on scheduled commercial flights. BTR’s passenger count has been up 14 of the past 15 months dating back to September of 2016.

The Airport also had 156 charter flights in 2017 on aircraft ranging from 50-seat CRJ 200 regional jets to a Boeing 767s with over 200 seats. (The charter passenger count is not included in the enplanements for scheduled commercial flights.)  

The key factor in BTR’s passenger growth was aircraft up gauges. The majority of BTR flights utilized larger regional jets with first class and coach seating, or mainline Boeing 717 aircraft with multiple seating class options. The airline seating capacity at BTR was up over 6% in 2017, and is scheduled to be increased another 6% in 2018 based on advance schedules.

Interim Director of Aviation Ralph Hennessy said, “We appreciate American, Delta, and United for continuing to up gauge the aircraft serving the Baton Rogue Metro Airport, and thank our passengers for supporting the service. More seats increases the number of fare classes, provides first class and premium economy options, and improves group travel availability.” Hennessy noted that it is essential to support the airline seating expansion at BTR with a comparable increase in passengers. “We need to maintain load factors in the 80% range to show the airlines that the increased seating capacity for BTR is justified,” stated Hennessy.

American had the highest BTR passenger share in 2017 at 38.3%, followed by Delta at 37.5% and United at 24.2%.