The first direct commercial flight between the Big Easy and Margaritaville has arrived.
Water-squirting fire trucks, a red carpet, and a man blowing a conch shell greeted passengers stepping off a Southwest Airlines' jet on Saturday at Key West International Airport.
Airport officials say the arrival initiated Southwest's daily nonstop air service between the island and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Scheduled flight times are less than two hours and passengers travel on a Boeing 737-700 aircraft.
Southwest joined other airlines serving Key West last November, when it assumed nonstop Orlando and Tampa Bay routes previously operated by AirTran Airways.