Lafayette Airport Drop Point for Storm Relief

LAFAYETTE – Lafayette residents already have begun seeing and hearing in the skies evidence of the size of the rescue effort in southeast Louisiana, as monster cargo jets have started using the local airport as a drop spot for people and equipment.

The Lafayette Regional Airport has begun working as a conduit for federal aid directed toward southeast Louisiana.

Greg Roberts, director of aviation for the airport, said five heavy cargo planes landed Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

That was a set of military cargo planes – C-5 Galaxys and C-17 Globemasters – coming in to drop off a rescue team from California, along with equipment and supplies for the affected area.

Roberts said special areas have been set aside for the operations involved with bringing in rescue and recovery equipment and supplies.

The aircraft expected to come in are larger-bodied than the airport usually handles but well within its capacity, Roberts said.

He said that discussions on the airport’s role have not turned to how long the runways and space will be needed by the military and other agencies or companies that might be involved with the rescue and recovery efforts.

Roberts said that, otherwise, the airports regular commercial passenger and cargo operations, which were back in full swing Tuesday, are not being affected by the new traffic.