Special international airline returns service

Alfred "Pappy" Brunet
July 30, 2009
Joseph Henry Elkins
August 3, 2009
Alfred "Pappy" Brunet
July 30, 2009
Joseph Henry Elkins
August 3, 2009

On July 6, an international airline will once again offer flights from New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport. It is the first international airline to resume service to Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the state, and it is an airline that has a special place in the hearts of my wife and me.


It was 1993. That was the year I invited my girlfriend to lunch to celebrate her birthday.


I had arranged a limousine to take us to a restaurant in Metairie. While we dined, events began to unfold.

My girlfriend was unaware that I had secretly packed suitcases full of clothes for both of us – luggage that was hidden in the trunk of the limousine. While we dined, the driver eagerly checked our bags onto an AeroMexico flight – something that was possible pre-9/11.


The trip we would soon take required months of planning. It also required proof of citizenship – a difficult task to complete without the knowledge of one of the travelers.


With the help of AeroMexico and the Terrebonne Registrar of Voters Office, I was able to book the trip and acquire the necessary documents.

After completing our five-star meal, we re-entered the limousine for what was to be a return trip to Houma.


The chauffeur drove along the airport service road – a shortcut to Airline Highway at the time, as Interstate 310 was not yet complete. However, rather than taking a left turn onto Airline Highway, the limousine kept right and drove to the airport terminal.

With no luggage in site, my girlfriend assumed I was playing a trick – perhaps taking her to the airport lounge for a drink. To her surprise, we continued through security and later boarded an AeroMexico flight bound for Cancun.

It was a pleasant flight that lasted just over one hour. Three hours earlier, my girlfriend was sitting behind her desk at work, and now she was in a different country.

The AeroMexico travel package included a comfortable beachside villa and the shuttle bus to take us there.

Before the sun set that evening, my girlfriend was sitting on the balcony of our villa, overlooking the pristine white sands of the Caribbean beach. She was gazing at the sunset and listening to the transcendental sounds of crashing waves. That is when I approached her, lowered onto one knee and proposed.

She accepted with the condition that there were no more surprises. Three months later we were married.

Next week, my wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary.

A great deal has changed since that flight on Jan. 11, 1993, resulting in its inability to ever be re-created. Nevertheless, it is still good that international service has returned to New Orleans, and soon we could return to Cancun on the same airline that holds a special place in our hearts … welcome back AeroMexico.