LaGuardia Airport has long been known to New Yorkers as being incredibly inefficient and out-of-date, but a $8 billion transformation project has been in the works since 2015.
The massive rehaul includes completely demolishing and rebuilding every single terminal and concourse except for the historically landmarked Marine Air Terminal. And this week marked the completion of the biggest milestone of the project to date: the brand new Arrivals and Departures Hall of Terminal B.
The Governor unveiled the completed building a few days before it officially opened to the public on Saturday, June 13.
The new Terminal B is 850,000 square feet and includes American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Air Canada.
There is much more space for check-in (four check-in islands with 75 individual check-in kiosks), security (three times the space for security checks), and baggage claim, which will make it safer to travel in the age of coronavirus, along with new contactless technologies and continuous disinfecting procedures.
Another big highlight are four beautiful public art installations that were curated by the Public Art Fund.
The brand new concessions features lots of local NYC favorites, like Eli’s Essentials by New York food legend Eli Zabar, Chef Marc Forgione’s new Mulberry Street restaurant, Junior’s Cheesecake, Brooklyn Diner, Think Coffee, Tony + Benny’s Authentic Brooklyn Pizza, and Hill Country BBQ.
“The opening of the new Arrivals and Departures Hall at Terminal B is the biggest milestone to date in the transformation of LaGuardia Airport into a world-class transportation hub that is worthy of New York State,” Governor Cuomo said. “As we continue to upgrade and modernize this airport for the 21st century, this new state-of-the-art hall will offer passengers a unique travel experience with new concessions, traveler amenities and art installations by four of the world’s leading artists, while increasing space for passengers to move more safely and efficiently during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Called “A Whole New LGA,” the rebuild of the entire airport will eventually be 2.7 million square feet, including 72 new gates across six concourses, two expansive new terminal arrivals and departures halls connected by a central hall and a new LGA AirTrain, and 13.7 miles of a new roadway network.
You can read more specific details about the Terminal B revamp on the New York State website here.
In other news: The NYC Subway Just Topped 800K Riders For The First Time Since The Start Of The Pandemic
featured image source: Flickr governorandrewcuomo