2016 vs. 2017

12/01/2017

Kim Singletary,

I was excited to moderate the “Going Gaga Over Global: Destination Healthcare” panel Nov. 1 at Louisiana International Trade Week. Seen here is WTC CEO, Caitlin Cain; Ochsner Health System CEO, Warner Thomas; and New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Commission CEO, Mark Romig. Not pictured: GNO, Inc. CEO, Michael Hecht.

This is the second year that Biz has ended the year with a rundown of our take on the top 10 news stories that affected business, so I’m finding myself naturally comparing the two years.

Last year the top story was the airport, specifically MSY’s announcement of the first nonstop flight to Europe in more than 30 years via British Airways, plus flights to Germany and Central America.

A year later, those flights have been so popular that soon after starting service this past March, British Airways expanded from four to five days a week and Condor has announced that its flights to Frankfurt (which ran May through September this year) will definitely be returning next summer. MSY just continued to pick up steam this year, breaking last year’s passenger totals, boosting the size of the anticipated North Terminal and seeing airlines including Allegiant, Southwest, Vacation Express, Alaska Airlines and Spirit Airlines all adding more flights.

It was a hard battle for the top spot this year but we had to give it to the explosion of the healthcare industry in metro New Orleans. How could we not when this sector continues to top job growth both in the region and nationally? It seems like every day there was news of another clinic opening, or a multimillion-dollar center throwing open its doors and there’s no slowdown in sight.

Speaking of healthcare, next month is our CEO of the Year issue and all I can say is that it should come as no surprise that our esteemed cover person hails from this industry.

Here’s to a safe and prosperous 2018!

Happy Reading.