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Dark, dingy, cramped and sad. These are some of the ways travellers describe New York's LaGuardia Airport, a bustling hub often ranked in customer satisfaction surveys as the worst in America.
"It does not represent what people think of when they think of New York and Broadway shows and glamour. It's not very pretty," said Layla House, a sales manager for a medical supply company who travels from her home in the US state of Texas to New York at least six times a year.
That's about to change.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the state is taking control of an ambitious US$3.6 billion construction project to create an entirely new central terminal at LaGuardia, with vast open spaces, restaurants, shopping plazas, new parking garages, free Wi-fi and other amenities now common in other airports.
Cuomo also wants to upgrade cargo operations at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport.
"We are going to redevelop those airports the way they should have been redeveloped many, many years ago," Cuomo said in his annual state-of-the- state address.
Cuomo, who is running for re-election and could become a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, said he had become frustrated that talk of such renovations has been going on since the 1990s with little progress.
LaGuardia, along the Flushing and Bowery bays in northern Queens, is the closest of the New York area's three major air hubs to Manhattan, just 13 kilometres away. It handled a record 27 million passengers last year. Often, the first building they see is the sprawling, boomerang-shaped Central Terminal, which opened just in time to receive visitors to the 1964 World's Fair.
Many passengers say it is like stepping back in time.
They immediately encounter low ceilings and dimly lit, narrow hallways. Check-in kiosks are arrayed haphazardly in rows just inside the entrances, where bright green neon lights blare "Welcome to LaGuardia Airport".
On the west side of the terminal sits a modest food court featuring a hamburger counter, a pizzeria and a Dunkin' Donuts.
"It's probably the worst of all the terminals I use," said Thomas Smith, an energy company executive from Chicago who has seen buckets on the floor under leaky ceilings and other signs of decay.
"There's no real food service other than small snack shops. The gate areas are old."
Most passengers have to drag their carry-on bags down a flight of stairs to get from their gates to baggage claim because only one concourse has an escalator.
Others have complained that neither Kennedy nor LaGuardia provides free Wi-fi.
Built to handle eight million passengers a year, the central terminal now handles 12.5 million. Cuomo envisions a new terminal that could handle as many as 17.5 million passengers by 2030.
"When you see the difference between these airports and some of these other countries' airports, it's shameful," said George Hobica, who runs the website Airfarewatchdog.com
He noted that after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, airports had to install security equipment for luggage and passenger screening. "The Transportation Security Administration equipment barely fits at LaGuardia," Hobica said. "LaGuardia is just functionally disjointed."
In 2012, Travel and Leisure magazine named it the worst US airport, saying it had the "dubious honour of ranking the worst for the check-in and security process, the worst for baggage handling, the worst for providing Wi-fi, the worst at staff communication and the worst design and cleanliness".
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, concedes the facility is in need of an overhaul and has already begun awarding contracts for preliminary work at LaGuardia.
Four companies have been asked to submit proposals for the Central Terminal Building project by April 15, and construction is expected to begin by the end of the year. The tricky part will come when construction is fully under way while the airport continues to serve millions.
"It's going to be a nightmare," said Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst. "This is going to be the equivalent of General Motors trying to change one of its models while the assembly line is still running ... But this is the way airports get redeveloped. Every airline understands this."


New York's outdated LaGuardia Airport set for US$3.6b revamp

LaGuardia Airport, which has been the target of complaints from travellers for years: planes at the gates. Photo: AFP

The gloomy interior.

A woman tries to get comfy as she waits for her flight. 

News

World

Outdated airport dubbed worst in America by travellers is set for take-off with a US$3.6b revamp


Dark, dingy, cramped and sad. These are some of the ways travellers describe New York's LaGuardia Airport, a bustling hub often ranked in customer satisfaction surveys as the worst in America.


New York's outdated LaGuardia Airport set for US$3.6b revamp

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Outdated airport dubbed worst in America by travellers is set for take-off with a US$3.6b revamp

Outdated airport dubbed worst in America by travellers is set for take-off with a US$3.6b revamp