The passengers boarding the last departure out, a Southwest Airlines flight to Tampa, Florida, just after 9 p.m., struck up a rousing rendition of “When The Saints Go Marching In.” In MSY’s case, the mourners weren’t actually mourning but were passengers joining in the impromptu celebration while others looked on in bemusement. In its 20 months in operation, the new MSY has won praise from passengers and pundits, with USA Today naming it “one of America’s three top airports in 2020.” This, even after the devastation to the aviation industry wrought by the pandemic. In November 2019, just months before the Covid pandemic swept the world, New Orleans inaugurated its gleaming new $1.3 billion airport terminal, which speaks more to where the Crescent City, then celebrating its Tricentennial, was headed for the next 300 years than wallowing in its past.Īrchitecturally speaking, the ultramodern César Pelli-designed terminal is an international gateway that might look more at home in Bahrain than the Bayou. While not dead yet, the old MSY is currently stuck in quiet purgatory. The legendary American folksinger wasn’t thinking about the virtually abandoned airport terminal at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International (MSY), but his words certainly are apposite. “Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep… The past doesn’t pass away so quickly here.” “The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds – the cemeteries – one of the best things there are here” wrote Bob Dylan in his 2004 book “Chronicles: Volume One.”
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