Revitalized LaGuardia Airport a Boon for New York

We New Yorkers are a different breed. We believe everything is the biggest and best and greatest in the world. We won’t just argue that fact – even the most docile of us will literally fight you over it.

The best pizza, easily the best bagels, the greatest museums and landmarks, the best live theater, the hippest bars and nightclubs, the greatest city overall, the most beautiful women, the most handsome men. Heck, we have one single sports team – the greatest franchise in all of professional sports, the New York Yankees – with more than double the amount of World Series championships than the next closest team.

MORE Airlines & Airports

Spirit Airlines Reveals Record-Setting Summer Flight...

American Airlines Honors First African American Woman To...

Flight Misses Landing After Pilots Allegedly Fall Asleep

Triple the amount for you, Boston.

But one thing that has been an embarrassment has been LaGuardia Airport.

The oldest commercial airport in New York City, LaGuardia Airport began running flights in 1939. Well into this century, it looked and felt like it was still 1939. Eight years ago, then-Vice President Joe Biden famously said, “If I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York, you must think, ‘I must be in some third world country.’”

For decades, LaGuardia was annually rated as the worst airport in America. And it wasn’t even close. When you would rank a list of the best airports in the country, you started by filling in LGA at the bottom.

Now LGA is becoming something to be proud of.

On Saturday, June 4, Delta Air Lines began flights out of its new Terminal C, a $4 billion renovation project that accounts for half of the overall $8 billion commitment to turn LaGuardia from a 1939 facility to a 2039 airport, and beyond.

Two years ago, American opened its new arrivals and departures hall.

It’s a boon for New York, to say the least. And it’s not just a pride thing or a point of contention thing. It’s a progress thing.

And a money thing.

I can only speak for myself and only speak from personal experiences, but this is how bad LaGuardia was – if it meant spending a few more dollars on a flight, and spending a little more time in the car to get there, I would choose John F. Kennedy International Airport, or Newark-Liberty International Airport in Jersey, or even Westchester County Airport in White Plains in suburban NYC. I would avoid LGA like the plague.

But I would imagine many fliers felt the same way since LaGuardia slipped to being the 25th-busiest airport in the country in 2021 when it was 17th in 2014. It was not only a hell-hole when you arrived, but hellish to get to – a study by the Global Gateway Alliance several years ago found that LGA was the second-most difficult airport to get to in the entire U.S.

I don’t know what NYC officials can do about the traffic, but they finally did something about the airport.

As Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said during the Delta unveiling, the facility went from “the most reviled airport in the nation" to on par with some of the most popular.

It’s about time.