Construction on new rental car facility at Louis Armstrong International Airport set to begin
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The drudgery of picking up a rental car at an off-site lot will soon be a thing of the past at Louis Armstrong International Airport, with construction starting this month on a new rental car facility connected to the main terminal.
The facility will include a 30,000 square foot customer service building, a 3-level garage and four rental car maintenance centers. It is the latest in a series of modernization projects for the airport, which also includes the expansion of Concourse D and a face lift for the main ticketing area.
"We must make the infrastructure better so the experience you get when walking through this place is better," said Iftikhar Ahmad, who started work as aviation director on May 24.
The new rental car facility will eliminate the busing of customers to outdoor lots on the airport grounds and across Airline Drive with the construction of an on-site, 3-level garage. The garage will be connected to the customer service building, which will include administrative offices and rental car counters, currently located near the baggage claim area. There will also be four rental car services centers for the fueling, maintenance and cleaning of vehicles.
The entire facility will be connected to the main airport building by a covered walkway, which will be on the west side of the ground-floor baggage claim area.
Once completed, the new facility will increase the number of spaces for rental vehicles from 800 to 1,800.
Kurt Klebe, vice president of the South Louisiana branch of Enterprise Holdings, which runs Enterprise, National and Alamo car rental services, said the new facility is unique because most major airports have to shuttle customers to off-site rental car lots.
"It will make it incredibly convenient for our customers to rent a car," Klebe said.
The $72 million project will be entirely financed by a $6.20 per day customer facility charges that was placed on rental car users over a year ago. The facility is expected to be completed late next summer, said Maggie Woodruff, deputy director of community and governmental affairs for the airport.