New nonstop flight to New Orleans to have impact on business travel

Check the skies anywhere between Shreveport and New Orleans, beginning around the middle of December, and residents will see something a little different – a bit of a GLO as air travel locally adds a nonstop flight from Shreveport Regional Airport to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Louisiana-owned and based startup public charter operator GLO is offering a quality alternative to business and leisure travelers who have been relegated to multi-stop flights and exhausting road travel due to the absence of nonstop air service connecting the northern part of the state to the south.

Trey Fayard, GLO’s founder and CEO, said he experienced the lack of connectivity firsthand, adding he has spent more time than he would like to remember behind the wheel, traveling to locations that should be connected by nonstop air service.

“GLO was born out of the recognition that travel options in the Gulf and Mid-South regions are incredibly limited by existing air carriers,” Fayard, a former attorney and businessman, said. “Too often, both business and leisure travelers are forced into multi-stop flights or overreliance on road travel, often resulting in wasted time and productivity.”

Brandy Evans, vice president of communications for the Shreveport- Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau, said the nonstop flight, which will depart and arrive in both locations twice daily during the workweek and once daily on the weekend, will have a big impact on business travel.

“For travelers who are making that five-hour drive for business meetings and conferences and other things in New Orleans and vice versa, this will save time – which equates to money,” Evans said. “If it was a mid-day or night meeting, in the past, that meant an overnight stay. Now, that is not necessarily the case.”

Local tourism will be affected, she said. “It impacts tourism because business travelers tend to stay in hotels, spend money in restaurants and other things while they are here,” she said. “With the leisure visitor, they are attending festivals in our city and there are those here who are interested in attending New Orleans events, too.”

Evans said her office has been working with GLO on destination videos that will show off assets of Shreveport- Bossier City.

Corporate Flight Management Inc. deploys 30-passenger Saab 340B aircraft on GLO’s new routes. Onboard service provided by a flight attendant includes complimentary snacks and beverages from the regions GLO service, which includes nonstop flights from New Orleans to Little Rock and New Orleans to Memphis.

Service began with a promotional fare of $189 one way (tax included.) Because of GLO’S fare structure, travelers will realize a cost-effective and timely alternative to driving to destinations served by GLO.

“We are certainly a very good alternative price-wise, and we are the best alternative time-wise,” Fayard said. “The promotional fare will get people onto the service, but we feel like once they get on the flight and experience it, they’re really going to love it.”

Fayard expects to run the promotional price into the spring.

“It’s not available on every flight every day, but there are additional flights it will be available on,” he said. “If your flight doesn’t have the promotional fare, try a different flight or a different day.”

Bill Cooksey, interim director of airports, said GLO is answering the travelers’ needs.

“For more than a decade, Ark-La-Tex residents have asked for direct flights from Shreveport to New Orleans,” Cooksey said. “The GLO team has invested more than four years of work, due diligence and financial resources to make this a reality. Now, it’s up to Ark-La-Tex residents to help this new service be successful by choosing to fly GLO from Shreveport Regional Airport.”

The future for Shreveport travelers could hold flights to more destinations, Fayard said.

“Once we are stabilized and see the trends, we think there are more opportunities for similar patterns of service,” he said. “You have those mid-distance cities up to five or six hundred miles away that can support a flight or two a day. There is a need for more flights than just New Orleans.”

– Bonnie Culverhouse

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To book flights and find out more, go to FlyGLO.com.