LaGuardia Airport is an international airport located in New York City, US. It is situated eight miles from mid-town Manhattan in the borough of Queens and is spread over 680 acres. The airport opened in 1939 and is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has been the operator since 1947 under a lease with the city of New York. A further agreement in 2004 ensured the continued operation of the airport by the authority until 2050.
LaGuardia handled 24.1 million passengers in 2011 and 365,870 aircraft movements. It handled 7,292t of cargo during the same period.
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Expansion
In April 2010 Port Authority director Christopher Ward announced that the agency was investigating demolishing and rebuilding the airport. Planning consultants have been hired to design a new layout for the airport. The project would be carried out in phases during which the airport would remain operational. The project is, however, currently in the planning stage and nothing has been finalised.
In April 2012, Delta Airlines has started a $160m overhaul project at the airport site. A connector bridge between terminals C and D, new Delta Sky Club in terminal C, terminal C and D security lane extensions are included in the project.
New in-line baggage screening systems will be installed at the airport to improve the TSA operations. This installation will be funded from the $200m funds approved by the Port Authority in December 2011.
Terminal features
LaGuardia incorporates four terminals: Central Terminal Building (CTB), US Airways Terminal, Delta Air Lines Terminal and the Marine Air Terminal (MAT). The airport has a total of 72 aircraft gates.
The CTB was constructed in 1964 at a cost of $36m and handles most of the airport’s domestic traffic. It has 750,000ft² of floor space and is 1,300ft long and 180ft wide. It has a four-floor central section and two three-floor wings. The terminal has four concourses and is capable of accommodating 40 aircraft gate positions.
The US Airways Terminal opened in 1992 and was constructed at a cost of $200m. The 300,000ft² terminal has 12 gates and is installed with state-of-the-art flight information display monitors as well as electronic monitors for baggage and gate information.
The Delta Air Lines Terminal was opened at the east end of the airport in 1983. It was constructed by Delta Air Lines and has ten aircraft gate positions. The MAT was the original airport terminal and served traffic through the 1940s. In 1995 it was designated a historic landmark.
The terminals offer Wi-Fi internet access as well as bars, restaurants, fast food and retail concessions. The CTB and Delta terminal buildings feature business centres including airline clubs. A free shuttle service operates between the terminals.
Contractors
The US Airways Terminal was designed by William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates. The general contractor for the project was Morse Diesel International (now AMEC).
MarketPlace Development was awarded a retail concessions programme at LaGuardia. The programme involved the redevelopment of 46,000ft² of retail space in the central terminal building.
Runways
The airport has two runways, 4-22 and 13-31, both of which are 7,000ft long and 150ft wide. The runways were extended in 1967. They have been well-grooved in order to improve their skid resistance and minimise hydroplaning. As a part of runway rehabilitation programme, Touch Down Zone Lighting (TDZ) was installed on runways 13-31 and 4-22 in 2005 and 2009 respectively.
There are also two helipads at the airport.
Air Traffic Control Tower
The airport has two air traffic control towers which were opened in 1939 and 1964. Construction of a new $100m 233ft air traffic control tower began in December 2006. The new tower began operations in October 2010 and it was officially dedicated by the Federal Aviation Administration in January 2011.
Parking / car rental
LaGuardia has parking spaces for 10,400 vehicles, including 7,500 spaces for the public and the rest for employees. The airport also houses car rental companies including Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National. In 2011, a reservation system was introduced for the parking lots.
