BATON ROUGE - Nothing was left "up in the air" after LaDOTD Aviation Department Director, Brad Brandt, took the podium at Monday's Press Club meeting. 

Brandt began his speech by laying out the facts: there are 68 airports in Louisiana, seven of which serve commercial purposes. Over the next few years, LaDOTD is working to add two more airports and upgrade a third existing heliport in rural areas of the state. 

Officials already broke ground on the new Livingston Executive Airport in October. 

Looking ahead, Brandt said the amount of aircrafts will double in the next 25 years, and a large percentage of those new aircrafts could be electric. He also said the number of passengers in our commercial airports is expected to grow from 14 million to 26 million by 2050.

Currently, Louisiana airports host 1.5 million operations yearly, which amounts to roughly 4,000 operations each day. With so much activity and expected growth, government funding is a necessity. 

Brandt said House Bill 21 (Act 15), signed by Governor Landry during the last special session, will benefit aviation efforts through revenue generated by taxes on jet fuel and aviation gasoline in the state. This year, he expects the amount of money generated toward aviation appropriation to be close to $44 million. The revenue estimating committee meets Thursday at 9 a.m. and by March of 2025, LaDOTD will know specifically how much state funding they are working with. 

Federally, Brandt said money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill could lead to an additional $400 million going to the state aviation department. This money will be used to new terminal buildings, general improvements across airports in the state, improving fuel systems and safety, and more.

Without a doubt, Brandt said, airports are economic drivers for remote towns and cities alike. Airports attract investors and allow businesses like Walmart and Amazon to transport products and people quickly, which is a huge factor in their decision-making process when choosing new locations. He used the Meta data center coming to the northern part of the state as an example. 

Brandt closed his speech with talks of electric aircrafts and how the state is investing in the future. He said many advancements in drones and unmanned aircrafts are on hold until the federal government passes the required oversight to be able to handle this new technology. In the future, he said unmanned helicopters will be retrofitted to transport equipment to offshore crews, which will save money and manpower. 

If you're interested in hearing more, an Advanced Aircraft and Drone Committee meeting will take place at the state Capitol building on January 15 at 1 p.m.