Lakefront Airport
public airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Lakefront Airport (IATA: NEW, ICAO: KNEW, FAA LID: NEW) is a public airport five miles (eight kilometers) northeast of downtown New Orleans, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation reliever airport.
Originally the airline airport for the New Orleans area, Lakefront Airport relinquished that role in the summer of 1946 when airline service began from Moisant International Airport (now Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport), a larger facility in the nearby suburb of Kenner. Lakefront Airport continues as a general aviation airport with charter, private, and occasional military operations. Airline service is also available to destinations in the Gulf South Region.
The terminal building's interior retains much of its original lavish 1930s decoration, and the Art Deco exterior, obscured for decades by a "bomb-proof" facade installed after World War II, has been returned to its original appearance. The terminal building houses a restaurant frequented by nearby residents, the Walnut Room. The sculpture in front of the terminal, Fountain of the Four Winds by Enrique Alferez, is a local landmark.
Lakefront Airport was damaged by hurricane-force winds and the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and a number of the hangars and outlying buildings were destroyed. While the airport soon resumed functioning, restoration of the terminal building and other facilities proceeded slowly.
The public source identifies “Lakefront Airport” as public airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Lakefront, Airport and public.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Lakefront Airport”, the useful work is to connect “public airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q10853543. Authority coordinates are 30.043, -90.028. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2015, 1946 and 2005.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lakefront Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lakefront Airport primary sources, Lakefront Airport archive and Lakefront research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lakefront Airport”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lakefront Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.