LaGuardia’s existing, cramped and chaotic buildings would be demolished and replaced with a big new terminal 600 feet closer to the Grand Central Parkway, the highway that rings the airport like a moat.
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“We look forward to working in partnership with the governor’s design commission on a comprehensive and complementary redevelopment plan that realizes our mutual goals and benefits all New York passengers”, Delta’s President Ed Bastian said in a news release. He was at the announcement Monday.
The $4 billion redevelopment of terminals A and B is half-funded by private contractors, who will operate and profit from the new facility. He says Delta Air Lines is a partner in the new terminal.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images Vice President Biden and Gov. Cuomo are all smiles unveiling plan Monday.
Construction of the new LaGuardia is set to break ground next year, and the finished product will provide more operating space for aircraft, an-on site hotel and state of the art security.
“I wish everything I said that was truthful but controversial would turn out this well”, Mr Biden said.
Mr. Biden opined that “like every great achievement in New York architecture, it begins with the constraint of limited space”.
Cuomo said the project would create 8,000 new construction jobs.
New connections to the airport, now accessible by auto and bus, will include a rail link and high-speed ferry. Western New York already has about 100 companies focused on optics and photonics, and supporters of the new project say it will bring jobs in government, industry and academia to advance photonics research and its commercial uses.
The Governor also announced upgrades to area airports, including free trade zones at Stewart Airport in NewBurgh and Republic Airport on Long Island.
The majority of this first half of the project is expected to open to passengers in 2019, with full completion scheduled for approximately 18 months later.
After repeated calls for a new La Guardia, Mr. Cuomo declared: “Now we’re going to get it”.
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“It’s regularly voted the “most frustrating airport” and has led our Readers” Choice Awards in the category of “worst airport”, but there’s hope for LaGuardia Airport on the horizon.
