The redevelopment of New York’s LaGuardia Airport will reach
its biggest milestone to date on Saturday with the opening of the Terminal B arrivals
and departures hall.
The 850,000 square-foot facility encompasses four floors.
It houses a check-in area, a 16-lane TSA screening area, baggage claim, ground
transportation access, restaurants, shops and other amenities.
American Airlines, Southwest, United and Air Canada will operate their ticket counters and bag claims from the new hall.
The opening of the arrivals hall comes four years after
construction began on the $5.1 billion project. The terminal’s 18-gate eastern
concourse opened in December 2018. Remaining components of the project include
demolishing the old terminal, completing the terminal’s 17-gate, western
concourse and completing a central hall, which will connect Terminal B to a new
LaGuardia Terminal C.
The Terminal B project is headed by the LaGuardia Gateway
Partners consortium, which is under contract from the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey. The project is scheduled for completion in 2022.
Terminal B is just half of the LaGuardia redevelopment
project. Delta is currently undertaking a $4 billion rebuild and consolidation
of the airport’s terminals C and D. The first of what will be four concourses
in the consolidated Delta Terminal C opened last November.
At a press conference held in Terminal B on Wednesday, New
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the arrivals and departures hall opening,
especially in light of the trauma the state has endured from the Covid-19
pandemic.
“We needed this. We needed this today. We needed to see the
light at the end of the tunnel. We needed to see New York stand up and shine,”
Cuomo said.
Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton said traffic
at LaGuardia remains approximately 95% down from last year. But he expressed
confidence that traffic will return and that the expanded airport will be
needed.
“We are building these projects for the future,” he said.