Louisiana Regional Airport to Buy Generator

In coming months, the Louisiana Regional Airport in Burnside will be able to operate even if electrical service was lost.

The Ascension-St. James Airport and Transportation Authority earlier this week said that it will use a $35,000 grant to purchase an emergency generator.

The generator will provide enough energy to power the airport's runway lights, Janet Gonzales, secretary for the Authority, said Thursday.

The state Department of Transportation and Development grant will finance the purchase, engineering and installation of the generator, she said.

In other news from Tuesday night's meeting, the authority said it is moving ahead with plans to build 12 T-hangars and four corporate hangars after receiving deposits for each structure, Gonzales said.

In November, the state Bond Commission cleared the authority to issue $770,000 in revenue bonds to fund the project. After administrative and financing fees are paid, the 25-year bonds would yield $640,000, significantly below the lowest bid on the initial project. To reduce the expense, the authority reduced the number of corporate hangars by four and made minor design changes.

The hangar addition remained in limbo after an underwriter, who actually sells the bonds on the open market and guarantees the bonds are valid, backed out. Weeks later, Crews & Associates, based in Little Rock, Ark., with a Baton Rouge office, emerged as a replacement underwriter. The firm set one condition: The authority had to collect $500 deposits on the hangars as evidence of the demand.

Gonzales said she anticipates Bryan Bush Construction Co. Inc. of Baton Rouge to finish the hangars in four to six months.

The authority has 16 T-hangars, which house a single plane in each, seven corporate hangars that can hold multiple planes, and a larger hangar. Another four hangars are privately held. The authority houses 75 aircraft at the facility.

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