Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (KMSY) is the principal gateway for the New Orleans metropolitan area, sited in Kenner, Louisiana, some 11 miles west of the city centre. It sits under Class B airspace and offers two long, hard-surfaced runways with full ILS coverage, making it a straightforward if busy destination for simulator pilots flying airline or general aviation traffic into the Gulf Coast.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, known historically as Moisant Field, is the main commercial airport serving New Orleans and southeast Louisiana. Owned by the City of New Orleans and operated as a large international facility, it handles scheduled airline traffic to destinations across North America, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. For the simulator pilot it offers a busy Class B environment with long ILS-equipped runways, a mix of jet and turboprop traffic, and the atmospheric backdrop of the low-lying Louisiana delta.
The airport lies under Class B airspace in the City of Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, about 11 miles (18 km) west of downtown New Orleans. A small portion of Runway 11/29 extends into unincorporated St Charles Parish. As a Class B international airport of entry, it is served by New Orleans Approach/Departure control, and arriving VFR traffic should expect to be worked into the surrounding controlled airspace structure well before reaching the field.
The airport has two physical runways. Runway 11/29 is the longer of the pair, a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 10,087 feet on the 11 heading and 9,779 feet on the 29 heading, equipped with ILS in both directions. Runway 02/20 is 7,005 feet long in both directions, also hard-surfaced, lit and ILS-equipped. Field elevation is essentially at sea level, among the lowest of any international airport.
New Orleans Approach/Departure works arriving and departing traffic on 123.85 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 127.55 MHz. Clearance delivery operates on 127.2 MHz, ground control on 121.9 MHz, and the tower on 119.5 MHz. A UNICOM frequency of 122.95 MHz is also listed. Both runways are served by ILS approaches, giving reliable instrument access in the low-lying, often humid Gulf Coast environment.
The site began as agricultural land before becoming known as the Moisant Stock Yards, named after aviator John Moisant, who died in a flying accident nearby in 1910; this name is the origin of the airport's MSY identifier. Plans for a new airport to replace the smaller New Orleans Lakefront Airport were drawn up from 1940, and the site, originally called Moisant Field, was taken over as a government air base during the Second World War before returning to civil use, with commercial service beginning in May 1946. The airport was submerged under floodwater and closed in September 1947 following the impact of that year's Fort Lauderdale Hurricane. A new terminal complex opened in 1959 under the name Moisant International Airport, and the airport was renamed New Orleans International Airport in 1961. Retired Air Force Major General Junius Wallace Jones directed the airport through much of the 1950s, overseeing a period of rapid improvement. Mid-1970s expansion added Concourses A and B and a new access road to Interstate 10, while National Airlines began the city's first nonstop transatlantic service, to Amsterdam and Frankfurt, in July 1978. British Airways briefly routed a London Gatwick to Mexico City service through the airport in 1981 and 1982, and short-lived carriers Northeastern International Airways and Pride Air attempted to establish hubs there in the mid-1980s. In July 2001 the airport was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to mark the centenary of the musician's birth. The airport reopened to commercial flights on 13 September 2005 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and a new north terminal has since replaced the original 1959-era terminal buildings, though remnants of the 1959 arrivals lounge and ticketing hall survive.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport remains the primary commercial airport for the New Orleans region, operating around the clock, 24 hours daily including holidays. It functions as an international airport of entry with US Customs facilities, and the FAA notes that, to the maximum extent possible, New Orleans TRACON will provide IFR separation for VFR aircraft flying practice instrument approaches. General aviation and visiting business aircraft are supported by two FBOs on the field alongside the main passenger terminal.