Lafayette Regional Airport(French: Aéroport régional de Lafayette) is a public use airport two miles (4 km) southeast of Lafayette, in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the City Parish of Lafayette.
The Lafayette Regional airport is located next to U.S. Highway 90 (future Interstate 49) on the east side of the city, close to offshore oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico. Lafayette Regional is home to one of the largest helicopter companies in the world, Petroleum Helicopters International (formerly PHI-Petroleum Helicopters Inc.).
Lafayette Regional airport does not have international flights; however, regional jet service is operated nonstop to four hubs: Atlanta (ATL), Charlotte (CLT), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston (IAH).
Historical airline service Eastern Airlines began the first service to Lafayette in the latter 1940s with flights to Houston and New Orleans that made intermediate stops. Eastern ended their service in 1966.Official Airline Guide Feb. 15, 1966
Trans-Texas Airways began service in the latter 1950s with flights to Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans, all with intermediate stops. Trans-Texas became Texas International Airlines in 1969 and was merged into Continental Airlines in 1982. Continental continued serving Lafayette with nonstop service to Houston and was merged into United Airlines in 2012.
American Eagle with service on behalf of American Airlines began nonstop flights to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) in 1984. MetroFlight, the codeshare affiliate for American Eagle, had begun the flights to DFW under their own branding the year before in 1983. American Eagle nonstop service to Charlotte, NC was added in 2021.American Airlines timetable Nov. 1, 1984
Delta Connection with service on behalf of Delta Air Lines began service to DFW in 1987 and later added one-stop flights to Atlanta. Delta mainline Boeing 717-200 jet service nonstop to Atlanta was added on July 3, 2014, in addition to its regional jet flights operated by Delta Connection; however, the mainline service was soon discontinued.
Northwest Airlink with service on behalf of Northwest Airlines began flights to its hub in Memphis, Tennessee in 1991. Northwest was merged into Delta in 2010 and Delta Connection continued to serve Lafayette from Memphis through 2011.
United Airlines began expanded service from Lafayette featuring a new daily nonstop flight to Denver which became effective August 19, 2014, and was operated by its regional partner United Express until this flight was discontinued on October 23, 2015.
Allegiant Air initiated nonstop service to Las Vegas on November 3, 2011, but then discontinued these flights in February 2012.
Frontier Airlines began new service into Lafayette with Airbus A320 jetliners effective October 24, 2018 with two nonstop flights a week to Denver (DEN) as well as two nonstop flights a week to Orlando (MCO), with both of these destinations being hub cities for Frontier. Frontier ended its seasonal service to Orlando from Lafayette in August 2019 and then ended its seasonal service from Lafayette to Denver on November 10, 2019, with flights to both cities planned to resume in the spring of 2020. However, Frontier has since stated it will not be resuming flights from Lafayette with its service now suspended indefinitely.
Passenger growth
The airport serves the greater Lafayette metropolitan area as well as nearby New Iberia and other population centers in south central Louisiana, which has a combined population of approximately 530,000 people. In 2019, 527,460 passengers flew in and out of the airport, the highest in its history.
Facilities and aircraft Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) covers at an elevation of above mean sea level. The airport officially operates two asphalt runways: 4R/22L, and 11/29, . It has one helipad, . The airport previously had a third runway (4L/22R) which was parallel to 4R/22L and served for GA aircraft, but that runway was disabled after the airport built a new cargo ramp on the approach of the 4L's path. That runway is now used as a taxiway.
During the years in which the airport's new terminal was being constructed, 4R/22L was the only active runway at the airport, as 11/29 was closed for additions and repaving. Following its necessary work, it was used as the main taxiway to reach the terminals with its runway markers erased and removed until the old terminal was demolished and the new terminal completed construction. The airport also awaited FAA clearance to resume operations on the runway, which was achieved in mid-2024. It serves as the airport's crosswind runway, yet at 5,400 feet, it is only long enough for general aviation and light regional aircraft.
In the year ending February 28, 2022, the Lafayette Regional airport had 45,467 aircraft operations, an average of 124 per day: 53% general aviation, 34% air taxi, 2% military and 12% scheduled commercial. At that time, there were 138 aircraft based at this airport: 75 single-engine, 23 multi-engine, 27 jet and 13 helicopter.
Airlines and destinations Passenger
Top destinations + Busiest domestic routes from LFT(June 2025 – May 2026) Rank City Passengers Carrier 1 Houston–Intercontinental, Texas 94,760 United 2 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas 88,980 American 3 Atlanta, Georgia 81,560 Delta 4 Charlotte, North Carolina 22,190 American
Cargo operations Lafayette Regional Airport has now completed a new cargo terminal on the southwest side of the airfield near the PHI headquarters. It is approximately 22,500 square feet. Construction commenced in September 2010. It provides parking for several Boeing 757 aircraft on its apron and also is accessible to existing taxiways that connect to runways 4R/22L. The relocation of the cargo ramp provides cargo carriers such as UPS and FedEx direct access to U.S. Highway 90 (future Interstate 49 freeway corridor). Currently, UPS bases a Boeing 757-200 aircraft at the airport. FedEx previously based two Boeing 727-200 trijets on the airfield until this aircraft type was retired from their fleet on June 21, 2013. The FedEx Boeing 727s have now been replaced with Boeing 757-200 aircraft. These Boeing 757 jets operated by both FedEx and UPS are currently the largest aircraft to use the airport on a regular basis. DHL had operated a Douglas DC-9 aircraft configured for freight operations from Lafayette; however, this company subsequently shut down all of their flight operations in the U.S. It was envisioned by airport officials that the old cargo ramp would create more room for a planned main terminal building extension. However, the Lafayette Regional Airport has constructed a completely new passenger terminal which replaced the existing terminal. This new facility opened on January 20, 2022.
Terminal expansion study
A preliminary study was conducted concerning the existing terminal building at Lafayette Regional Airport in planning for future growth and construction. Adding an extension to the terminal would have allowed Lafayette Regional Airport to handle more air traffic, which could entice international carriers to use it as a connecting airport. This would require a U.S. Customs department office stationed at the airport, which would bring Lafayette Regional Airport to "international airport" status. However, international service from Lafayette appears unlikely due to the relatively small population base in the area as well as the presence of large international and domestic passenger hubs located relatively nearby in Atlanta (Delta Air Lines), Charlotte (American Airlines), Dallas/Fort Worth (American Airlines) and Houston (United Airlines).
New airport terminal
On December 6, 2014, local voters approved a ballot measure that would enable a new one percent sales tax to be collected in order to fund construction of a completely new passenger air terminal at Lafayette Regional Airport. According to an article in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser newspaper, airport officials planned to use the funds generated by the sales tax to select a design firm, finalize a design and develop construction plans. While construction of the new terminal was underway, the existing passenger terminal continued to be used. The new terminal was completed and opened for airline flights on January 20, 2022, and the previous terminal was demolished in August later that year.
Construction of the new terminal began in September 2018. As of the beginning of October 2018, the hangar that was in the area of the new terminal location had been demolished with the site cleaned up in order to allow construction of the new terminal. A public live webcam was added at the airport facing where the new terminal was under construction and could be viewed on the airport's website. The live webcam now faces the area of the previous terminal, which is now demolished.
According to the 2021 Lafayette Regional Airport annual report, all funding for the new terminal had been obtained.
The new passenger terminal was dedicated on January 19, 2022, and was then opened for airline flights on January 20, 2022. The terminal has five gates, two more than the previous terminal, and will have the ability to add two more gates if needed in the future according to airport officials.
History
World War II The airport opened as Lafayette Municipal Airport on November 29, 1930. On July 5, 1942, during World War II, the airport was commandeered by the United States Army Air Forces and used as a contract primary pilot training airfield under the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command). The 384th Army Air Force Base Unit administered the contract to a civilian-operated primary flying school (Lafayette School of Aeronautics) as a sub-base of DeRidder Army Air Base, Louisiana, which also had four auxiliary airfields located nearby for emergency and overflow landings. Fairchild PT-19s were the primary trainer; several PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks were assigned.
Control of the airfield was transferred from DeRidder AAB to Third Air Force (Esler Field) on March 24, 1944. The mission of base became training of replacement combat aircrews. On September 30, 1945, the airfield was deactivated and returned to civil control.
Postwar civil use: airline service In 1948, Eastern Air Lines began the first scheduled passenger service into Lafayette. During the 1950s, Eastern operated up to ten flights a day with Martin 4-0-4 and Convair 340 twin prop "Silver Falcon" airliners with up to five flights a day to New Orleans via Baton Rouge and up to five flights a day to Houston Hobby Airport via Lake Charles, LA and Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX. According to its December 1, 1958 system timetable, Eastern was operating a daily round trip flight with a Convair 340 on a routing of BrownsvilleCorpus ChristiHouston Hobby AirportBeaumont/Port ArthurLake CharlesLafayetteBaton RougeNew OrleansMobilePensacolaMontgomeryBirminghamAtlanta. Other Eastern flights featured continuing, no change of plane service to such destinations as Charlotte and San Antonio. Eastern served Lafayette until the mid-1960s with Convair 440 propliners when it then ceased all service into the airport.