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Nonstop flights begin between New Orleans and Shreveport, reconnecting top and bottom of state

FlyGLO LLC

Daily direct flights to New Orleans start today from Shreveport Regional Airport. New Orleans-based startup carrierGLO will begin service between these two cities at the top and bottom of the state that haven’t been connected since 2004.

GLO is positioning itself to provide direct flights between mid-South and Gulf Coast cities, traditionally underserved by major airlines. GLO CEO Trey Fayard says to entice Shreveport customers it’s offering an introductory fare, $99 each way.

“Traditionally, when you start a new air service, it can be slow and that’s to be expected. But, we’re getting a great response out of northwest Louisiana, and we’ve been buoyed by the New Orleans Bowl featuring Louisiana Tech,” Fayard said.

GLO recently started service to Little Rock and Memphis from New Orleans. GLO’s public charter flights are operated by Corporate Flight Management, a Tennessee-based charter outfit.

Dallas attorney James Lyne is an aviation consultant. He says customers should flock to GLO because of its convenience. If it does well in these markets, he says, it might spark competition from the major airlines.

"I’m always happy to see an upstart make a good fight out of it,” Lyne said. “Typically, if the majors see it as competition, they’re going to either buy it and turn it into one of their regionals or they will just run them out of business.”

Fayard’s company, launched in 2013, employs 29 people. Fayard says he’s already eyeing expanded Shreveport service with GLO’s 30-passenger Saab 340B turbo prop aircraft.

“There are a couple of destinations that we’ve identified from Shreveport that we’d like to potentially offer coming up in the first part of the next year to our customers up in northwest Louisiana, east Texas and southern Arkansas,” Fayard said.

GLO becomes Shreveport Regional’s fifth commercial air service provider. It increases the airport’s number of nonstop destinations to seven. According to Shreveport Regional, 636,000 passengers traveled through the airport last year.

GLO will allow each ticketed passenger to bring up to three bags and one personal item at no extra charge.

GLO’s advantage, according to Lyne, is its flexibility. It’s not beholden to the major carriers.

“The secret to success, which it sounds like this company has addressed, is to go to under- or unserved destination pairs, and go where the big carriers aren’t going because it’s not economically viable to them,” Lyne said.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.
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