Tl;dr – The airport hopes to add a second terminal by 2031, as part of a greater 20-year growth plan.
New Orleans’s Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY) hopes to build a second terminal with up to an additional 15 gates of capacity by 2031.
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This news of this expansion comes at a time when passenger growth has increased steadily and the airport has received several accolades over the last few years, including being named Best Airport in North America (5 to 15 million passengers per year), four years running.
Passenger volume has increased from 5.9 million departing passengers in 2022 to 6.6 million in 2024. As a popular destination for everything from weddings, conferences, sporting events, cruise departures, culinary travel, and more, hospitality is one of the pillars of New Orleans’ local economy.
These 2031 expansion goals are part of a larger 20-year plan that would see the airport add 60 gates over a total of five concourses. As the airport serves passengers along the Gulf Coast, including other parts of Louisiana, I imagine there may be ambitions to expand to several international destinations, given the increased footprint. Presently, New Orleans flies to just four international destinations – London, Cancun, Toronto, and San Pedro Sula (Honduras).
Hopefully, a new terminal will also bring new lounges. I’ve flown out of MSY countless times and there’s a Delta Sky Club, The Club (Priority Pass) and a United Club.
The current terminal at MSY opened in 2019 and is itself the product of a $1.3 billion project. Infamously, when the current terminal was nearing completion, news broke that developers had ‘forgotten’ to include in the initial planning of the project the construction of an access road to the airport, resulting in lobbying for additional funds to build said road.
