The ageing terminals of New York’s LaGuardia Airport – one of the busiest in the US – will be rebuilt, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced.
Vice President Joe Biden – who previously compared the airport to “some Third World country” – was on hand for the announcement on July 27.
Joe Biden said: “I wish everything I said that was truthful but controversial would turn out this well.”
The redesign will double the space available for planes to operate.
Work is scheduled to start in 2016, and the first redesigned portion of the airport will open to passengers in 2019.
LaGuardia Airport, which sits along the East River in Queens, is frequently ranked as one of the worst in the US, according to customer surveys.
“It’s slow, it’s dated, it has a terrible front-door entrance way to New York,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Andrew Cuomo said VP Joe Biden was instrumental in securing federal funding for the project. Delta Airlines will also shoulder some of the costs of the $4 billion project.
With short runways that are surrounded by water, the airport has been dubbed “USS LaGuardia” by some pilots who say landing there is like arriving on an aircraft carrier.
Nearly 2 miles of new taxiways will be created under the plan, which will make landings easier for pilots.
