New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the $4 billion plan for LaGuardia Airport's renovation together with Vice President Joe Biden on Monday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan. Biden once famously commented that using the LaGuardia Airport is comparable to being in a third-world facility.
Dan Tishman, a real estate tycoon, led the consultative panel. After studying how to fix LaGuardia, Tishman deduced that ""there is no way to fix this, we need to tear it down.", The New York Observer reported.
Next year, the culmination of LaGuardia's renovation will require federal permits and approval of Delta Airlines. The plan presented will link the four terminals and double the aircrafts' space to solve the flight delays commonly experienced in the airport. The initial part of the plan incorporates the transfer of the Central Terminal building to make it nearer the Grand Central Parkway, which leaves a two-mile vacancy for extra planes. This first part of the plan, which is slated to be completed by 2019, will be financed by the Port Authority and private sectors, according to The New York Daily News. They are planning to finish the total overhaul by 2021.
Serving 30 million people a year, Cuomo said that "LaGuardia is un-New York." He added: "It is slow, it is dated, it has a terrible front entrance way to NY, it is a lost opportunity. It is almost universally decried as a poor representation of a New York airport." Last May, advocates were annoyed when the previous plan was delayed because of the indecision between two proposal plans. During the event which was organized by the Association for a Better New York, Cuomo said: "It's not a plan, it's not a sketch, it's not a dream, it's not a vision, it's actually happening," The New York Observer added.
Delays are very common at LaGuardia caused by air traffic, weather problems and infrastructure design. One recent incident was the cancellation of 168 Delta Air Lines flights because the electricity in the airport went out, Forbes reported.
