Airline offering daily direct flights to New Orleans expanding

During the time Shreveport became an epicenter of movie-making, there were no direct flights to New Orleans. If you took a commercial flight to New Orleans for business or pleasure, you had a layover. Since a flight that should have lasted less than 90 minutes took around five hours, most people opted to drive.

Direct flights between New Orleans and Shreveport stopped in 2004 and didn’t reopen until late last year when FlyGLO LLC (GLO) started roundtrip service twice a day during the week and once a day on weekends. Seven months in, things are going very well.

In June, GLO flew 565 people from Shreveport to New Orleans, Mark Crawford, marketing and public relations manager of the Shreveport Airport Authority, said.

GLO was started because attorney Calvin C. “Trey” Fayard III got tired of driving. He decided to start GLO as a pointto-point airline backed by a team of airline veterans who served on the frontlines of numerous large carriers for a combined total of almost 80 years.

“Between Shreveport and New Orleans, I had no choice but to spend 10-plus hours each roundtrip on I-49 and I-10 and it was taking me away from my clients,  co-workers, family and friends,” Fayard said. “My business trips were constantly being hampered by layovers when flying only a state or two over.”

Fayard serves as chief executive officer of the Louisiana-owned company that is headquartered out of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Plenty of perks come with a GLO flight. GLO is operated by Corporate Flight Management Inc. The staff, complimentary full-size snacks and beverages, even on-board publications are local.

The 30 seats on each of GLO’s three Saab 340B turboprops are leather, and there is no center seat.

Passengers can check two bags and bring a carryon along with a purse, laptop, diaper bag or camera case for no additional charge. Pets can also come for a small fee.

“We feel passengers should not be charged for every little piece of the traveling process,” said Fayard. “Anybody who flies needs to be able to carry on or check luggage without being penalized.”

Prices are affordable and special rates are sometimes available. Crawford said he took his parents on a day trip to New Orleans Memorial Day weekend for a very reasonable price. They had lunch, walked around the French Quarter, relaxed, ate beignets and came home. Business travelers can make the same day trip to cut expenses and downtime.

“We have altered our morning departure from Shreveport to take off at 8:50 a.m. so that Shreveport business travelers can get a full day of business in New Orleans,” Fayard said.

“We are expanding our aircraft fleet in the coming months, which will allow us to open more routes,” Fayard said. “We are currently working with the Shreveport Airport Authority on determining which routes in our business model are most in demand and would be well-utilized by Shreveport-Bossier passengers (to) comfortably get our passengers to their destination in a minimal amount of time.”

Direct flights from New Orleans to Memphis, Little Rock and Destin-Fort Walton Beach are also up and successfully running. GLO’s Web site features each city’s highlights and links to updates about what’s going on there.

GLO has partnered with the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation’s #HappyTuesday campaign. Tuesday flights booked through Nov. 1 are discounted by 15 percent if the promo code GLOTUESDAY is used, according to GLO’s Web site. Other partnerships and offers are in the planning stages.

“We are currently working with partner hotels to offer travel packages,” Fayard said. “Stand by for more to come on this soon.”

To book flights and find out more about GLO, visit www.FlyGLO.com.

– Kathleen Ward