A Whole New LGA Nears Completion Six Years After First Breaking Ground
The total $8 billion transformation of LaGuardia Airport makes it the first new major airport built in the United States in the last 25 years. In 2015, a comprehensive plan to construct a whole new LaGuardia Airport was unveiled with the goal of creating a world-class, 21st Century passenger experience featuring brand-new terminals and gates, two stunning new arrivals and departures halls, modern customer amenities, state-of-the-art architecture, more spacious gate areas and a unified terminal system. The $8 billion project, two-thirds of which is funded through private financing and existing passenger fees, broke ground in 2016.
Construction of a new LaGuardia Airport generated a record-setting $2 billion in contracts awarded to Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, the largest participation by MWBE firms at any public-private partnership project in New York State history. The project has also demonstrated a significant focus on working with locally-based contractors; to date, $800 million in contracts have been awarded to Queens-based local business enterprises.
The new airport has been built in phases to ensure that it remained fully operational and never lost capacity throughout construction. Every existing passenger facility, with the exception of the historic Marine Air Terminal, has been or will be demolished and replaced with new 21st century, world class facilities.
In February 2018, the new Terminal B parking garage opened with over 3,000 spaces and a dedicated level for Uber, Lyft and other for-hire car services. In December 2018, the first of 18 new gates and the first new concourse in Terminal B opened. In November 2019, Delta opened its first new concourse and seven new gates at Terminal C. In June 2020, the light-filled new Arrivals and Departures Hall at Terminal B opened amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Terminal C's opening, the airport’s new roadway network is being completed with 8.4 miles of new roads and 24 new bridges. In January 2022, the airport celebrated the completion of Terminal B's passenger facilities including its second pedestrian skybridge as one of the airport’s signature architectural features.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state agency that builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. For over a century, the agency’s network of aviation, ground, rail, and seaport facilities has been among the busiest in the country, supporting more than 550,000 regional jobs, and generating more than $23 billion in annual wages and $80 billion in annual economic activity. The Port Authority also owns and manages the 16-acre World Trade Center campus, which hosts millions of annual visitors and tens of thousands of office workers. The Port Authority receives no tax revenue from either the states of New York or New Jersey or from the city of New York. The agency raises the necessary funds for the improvement, construction or acquisition of its facilities primarily on its own credit.
