Frontier flies back on radar at N.O. airport

Frontier Airlines will return to Louis Armstrong International Airport next year for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, offering a daily flight to Denver beginning June 15.

Southwest Airlines, which remained in New Orleans but trimmed services after the storm, also announced the addition of two daily trips from Armstrong International. Beginning in May, Southwest will add a direct flight to St. Louis and a second flight to Denver.

"This just shows the strength of the recovery," said airport spokeswoman Maggie Woodruff.

Air travel through New Orleans has been down since Katrina, although the city is quickly approaching its pre-storm level of passengers. About 7.9 million people came through Louis Armstrong last year, or 82 percent of the number of travelers who touched down in New Orleans in 2004. But air travel grew 5.5 percent in 2008 over 2007, and analyst Michael Boyd said New Orleans is on pace to see another 5 percent rise in passengers by year's end.

The growth is remarkable, considering airlines have made cuts nationwide and travel through U.S. airports is projected to decline by 9 percent.

"New Orleans is going to be up because you're underserved," said Boyd, whose company, Boyd Group International of Colorado, has advised the managers of Louis Armstrong. "Airlines are redeploying their assets, and New Orleans makes more sense to invest than in other places. All of these airlines see New Orleans as an opportunity."

Indeed, the Big Easy now has more than twice the number of daily flights to St. Louis than before the storm, when American Airlines ran the only two trips to that city. American now offers four smaller daily flights, and the arrival of Southwest will mean a fifth route to St. Louis from New Orleans.

"It's always nice to have more than one carrier," Woodruff said....