Work on New Orleans’ new $800 million airport terminal will begin just after the year-end holidays after the New Orleans Aviation Board agreed the final construction budget.
The project has been dubbed the most important building project for the city since the Superdome in 1975, and a new terminal is long overdue, said NOLA mayor Mitch Landrieu.
"This airport has been in the mind’s eye of the public for about 40 years," Landrieu said at a signing ceremony.
"There have been innumerable mayors’ administrations, governors, that have tried to find the time, the space or the money to build a world-class airport that the people of New Orleans deserve.
Construction will cost a total of $807 million and comprises a 760,000-square-feet terminal with 30 new gates and a 2,000-car parking garage.
Work begins on January 4 and the new terminal is expected to welcome its first aircraft in October 2018.
The work will create 13,000 temporary construction jobs, the Aviation Board said.
