Business View Magazine | May 2021

119 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2021 LAFAYETTE REGIONAL A I RPORT acres and LFT now provides a top-notch service area for travelers and businesses. Lafayette Regional Airport’s current FBO, Signature Flight, is a great asset to airport operations. Whenever there’s development and an injection of capital at the airport, there is opportunity for more jobs, as is the case most recently with cleaning contractors. Picou shares, “As we reflect on the previous year, the need to maintain a higher level of cleanliness is imperative to ensuring a good first impression with all travelers. COVID-19 has shed light on that aspect of airports. LFT is the gateway to the community… a first impression to our community.” When developing the design of the new terminal, the management team was well aware of what business travelers would require. In the past, the addition of a business center would be a fixed feature, but in the modern world of working remotely, things have changed. “We are the fourth busiest airport in the state of Louisiana,” says Picou, “however, we were doing that business in the smallest square footage out of all the air carrier airports.” While this high productivity and turnover is impressive, the time has come for Lafayette Regional Airport to open a new terminal – doubling the size of the existing terminal to 120,000 sq. feet. The original terminal was built in the 1950s and hasn’t received an update since 1989. Construction is on schedule, with completion planned for the fourth quarter of 2021. Picou notes, “While just out of its useful life, it served us well. It’s still a nice building. Just an older design, lower ceilings, and little ambient light entering the building.” Established on November 29, 1930, Lafayette Regional Airport began with only one wooden hangar and didn’t have its first commercial flight until 1948. The original airfield of 848.5 acres has since expanded to approximately 1,116