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National Guard Moving Air Unit to Hammond

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By DEBRA LEMOINE

National Guard moving air unit to Hammond

HAMMOND The Louisiana Army National Guard will relocate its aviation support services based at New Orleans Lakefront Airport to the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport by April, Guard officials told the City Council Tuesday night.

The move will bring a $110 million investment of hangars and offices to the regional airport, which represents a quarter of the $400 million to $500 million authorized for 2006 by Congress to restore readiness of the Louisiana Army National Guard after Hurricane Katrina, Lt. Col. Douglas Mouton said.

The federal government has stepped up to assist Louisiana to get back up to speed, Mouton said.

The Guards relocation will further develop the northeastern sector of the city of Hammond as well as bring more business and traffic to the citys 73-year-old regional airport, Mayor Mayson Foster said.

To us, its a catalyst for bringing much more aviation-related business to the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport, Foster said.

Since the U.S. Customs Service set up administrative offices in 2002 at the Hammond Airport for its Southeastern United States air support services, more businesses using private airplanes have set up operations at the Hammond airport as well, airport director Jason Bell said.

The airport has about 900 usable acres of land.

Bell said that with the Guard coming in, the airports growth should accelerate, helping it to meet its goal of moving into the air-cargo business.

The Guard will bring about 100 jobs to the city with pay starting about $45,000 a year, Mouton said. Some of the jobs will be those of staff relocated from Lakefront Airport, while others will be new hires. The jobs will go to people who belong to the National Guard, he said.

The Guard began looking for a new home for its Air Aviation Support Facility No. 1 after Hurricane Katrina flooded and destroyed its facilities at Lakefront Airport on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Mouton said.

Because Lakefront Airport is on the unprotected side of the Pontchartrain basin levee system, the Guard needs a more sheltered location, Mouton said.

The Louisiana Army National Guard has used the Lakefront Airport since 1944, Mouton said.

After hearing the Guards presentation, the City Council unanimously approved leasing 123 acres of the Hammond Northshore Regional Airport for 99 years at $1 a year to the Louisiana Army National Guard. Officials described the transaction as a standard lease of the type offered government entities.

The Guard later this week will begin planning its move of the units involved from its temporary home at the Naval Air Station in Belle Chasse to the Hammond Airport, Mouton said.

As a result of the lease agreement, the Hammond airport will now house the Guards Air Aviation Support Facility No. 1, the 1/244th Aviation Battalion, 204th Air Traffic Services Group and Detachment 38.

Those units will bring 20 Black Hawk helicopters and a C-12, or King Air, fixed-wing airplane to the airport, Mouton said.

The Guard plans to begin operating out of the Hammond airport in April using temporary maintenance facilities and hangars, similar to those used in Iraq, Mouton said. Construction on the permanent facilities will begin by September, Mouton said.

Mouton said that more operations could eventually locate at the Hammond airport as the Guard moves to consolidate its operations.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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