LaGuardia Airport Facts

OPERATED BY
LaGuardia Airport (LGA) has been operated by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey under a lease with the City of New York since June 1, 1947.

LOCATION
LGA is located in the Borough of Queens, New York City, bordering on Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay. It is eight miles from midtown Manhattan. Geographic reference points are: 40° 46' 36.2" north, 73° 52' 23.7" west.

SIZE
LGA consists of 680 acres and 72 aircraft gates. The airport is 12.7 feet above sea level.

HISTORY
First occupied by Gala Amusement Park, LaGuardia Airport was built, in 1929, into a 105-acre private flying field.
Ground was broken on September 9, 1937 for a new airport, which was built jointly by the City of New York and the Federal Works Progress Administration. It was dedicated on October 15, 1939 as New York City Municipal Airport. On November 2, 1939, the name was changed to New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field. On December 2, 1939 the airport was opened to commercial traffic. In 1947, the year the airport was leased to the Port Authority, it was renamed LaGuardia Airport. A new Central Terminal Building was opened in 1964, enlarged in 1967 and again in 1992.

INVESTMENT
Original construction by the City of New York cost $40 million. The Port Authority's total capital investment in LaGuardia Airport to date is over $1 billion.

EMPLOYMENT & ECONOMIC IMPACT
There are over 9,000 people employed at the airport. LGA contributes $6.1 billion in economic activity to the NY/NJ metropolitan region, generating more than 63,000 jobs and $2.1 billion in annual wages.

LAGUARDIA REDEVELOPMENT
By the end of 2000, the combined Port Authority and airline investment for LaGuardia's Redevelopment Program was $830 million. The redevelopment program includes: expanding and modernizing the Central Terminal Building, reconfiguring and widening roadways, improving runways and taxiways, a passenger terminal in the east end, airline modernization of gate areas and passenger service areas, and other rehabilitation projects.

PASSENGER TERMINALS
Central Terminal Building
Central Terminal Building Dedicated on April 17, 1964, the Central Terminal Building (CTB) serves most of the airport's scheduled domestic airlines. It is 1,300 feet long and 180 feet wide, with 750,000 square feet of floor space. Originally constructed at a cost of $36 million, the six-block-long structure consists of a four-story central section, two three-story wings and four concourses leading to 38 aircraft gate positions. The Central Terminal Building is nearing completion of a $340 million expansion and modernization. The centerpiece, a $47 million project for a complete redevelopment of the center section, including new elevators and escalators to accommodate the elderly and disabled, is complete. The redesign of the center section provides space for a broader range of retail and food, business services, and improved pedestrian traffic flow within the terminal..2001 SPRING The expanded and modernized ticketing and arrivals areas of the CTB's West Wing were completed in fall 1992. The expansion of the lower or arrivals level of the CTB by 55 feet added 56,000 square feet of space for passenger meeting and greeting areas, larger baggage belts, improved passenger services and ground transportation counters.

Work on Concourse C's security checkpoint, connector and the west wing of the CTB by United Airlines has been completed and TWA has also completed its area adjacent to Concourse B. The Port Authority and Continental Airlines have commenced modernization of the balance of the east wing of Concourse B departures, arrivals and common use areas. The Port Authority has undertaken a massive customer service effort aimed at increasing customer satisfaction. On your visits to LaGuardia look for the distinctive red jackets and smiling faces of our Customer Service Agents. Also, look for new video monitors with CNN programming, new Flight Information Display units (FIDS), brightly lit restrooms with attendants for personal service, and free shuttle service in the parking lots to transport you to the terminal when you have to park far away. Additionally, you can look for service people in uniform who are dedicated to seeing that a flat tire or lost keys do not keep you from getting home quickly and safely. With these new additions and more to come, the Port Authority is committed to providing World Class Service at LaGuardia Airport.

American Airlines has completed a $32 million renovation and expansion project that included upgrading its gate boarding areas in the west end of the CTB, renovated baggage claim and ticketing counters and a new Admirals Club. US Airways modernized its ticketing and baggage areas and also completed other improvements in theWest Wing before it left the CTB and moved into its own terminal.

US Airways Terminal
East end airport roadways were reconfigured and expanded to handle the increased traffic at that end of the airport where the 12-gate US Airways Terminal opened on September 12, 1992. The $250 million, 300,000- square-foot terminal connects to US Airways' Shuttle Terminal and adjoins its lobby and check-in areas.

US Airways Shuttle Terminal
The eight-gate, $25 million US Airways Shuttle Terminal serves passengers on hourly shuttle flights to Boston and Washington, D.C. It has been operated by US Airways since April 1992.

Delta Air Lines Terminal
Built by Delta Air Lines at the east end of the airport, the Delta Terminal opened in June 1983. The terminal has 10 aircraft gate positions. The cost of the terminal was approximately $96 million. Delta's redevelopment of their food and retail concessions is underway. Northwest Airlines and Business Express are also located in this terminal.

Marine Air Terminal (MAT)
Once called the Overseas Terminal, this was the original airport terminal building, built near the bay to serve the flying boats that dominated international air travel in the '30s and '40s. In 1995 the Marine Air Terminal was designated an historical landmark. It is two- storied and domed, with an interior rotunda. It is used by commuter airlines, air taxis, private aircraft, Signature Flight Support - a fixed-base operator, and a private weather service. On September 18, 1980, the James Brooks mural entitled "Flight," which was originally completed in 1942, was rededicated by the Port Authority. The mural, is the largest created under the WPA Art Program (the WPA Program ended in the 1940's) and helped the MAT earn its designation as a New York City historic landmark.
On October 1, 1986, Pan Am opened its shuttle operation in its addition to the Marine Air Terminal. The terminal section houses six aircraft gates from which Delta Air Lines now operates hourly shuttle service to Boston and Washington.

CONTROL TOWER
The 150-foot-high control tower, Bldg. 88, began operations in May 1964.

PARKING
The airport provides a total of 10,400 parking spaces. This includes employee parking and 7,500 public spaces-including hourly, metered and parking garage spaces. Completed at the end of 1976 at a cost of $30 million, the five-level Parking garage can accommodate 3,000 cars. In addition to ground level access to the Central Terminal Building, there are two sheltered connectors that lead to the third level of the CTB. On October 4, 1998, Lot 3 with 600 spaces was designated as a Long-term Parking lot. An additional 330 spaces were added to the lot in early 1999.

ROADWAYS
"Big Apples" fence designed by NY artist,
David Saunders. An alternate exit roadway leading to 94th Street and the Grand Central Parkway from the garage plaza was completed in September 1983, and a new direct entrance to the garage from the airport's 94th Street entrance was constructed in the fall of 1988.
In 1991, the upper or departure level roadway to the CTB was widened with three new lanes to handle peak period passenger dropoff traffic and to eliminate traffic backing up onto the Grand Central Parkway, and the roadways were realigned to ease traffic flow.
Parking Lot 4A was combined into Lot 4 and Parking Lot 3 was reconfigured. The two lots are now surrounded by a one-way, two-lane roadway loop. In 1994, the CTB arrivals level roads were expanded to three separate roadways to accommodate eight lanes for smoother traffic flow.
An attractive fence of "Big Apples" designed by New York artist David Saunders, graces the pedestrian islands and sidewalks at both ends of the CTB. Canopies over the two pedestrian islands on the arrivals level and walkways from the parking garage to the terminal offer passengers protection from the weather.

OTHER STRUCTURES
Fuel Storage Facility:
There are eight above-ground tanks with a total capacity of approximately 5,130,000 gallons. Fuel is delivered by pipeline from supply sources in Linden, New Jersey. Operations began in 1975.
Five Hangars include facilities for air cargo, garaging, maintenance, food preparation and marine and aircraft simulation equipment. Airlines, including Delta and United have space in Hangar 2. American Airlines has space in Hangars 1, 3, 4, and Hangar 5, which also houses the Sky Chefs' catering facility. Hangar 7 houses the Port Authority administrative offices, Ogden Catering, and Flight Safety, Inc. A U.S. Postal Service facility is housed in Building 28.
Garages include a Port Authority vehicle garage, Building 7, a Northwest Airlines maintenance garage, Building 34, and two car rental areas with garages for Avis, Building 25, and Hertz, Building 24.
Police Building and Emergency Garage: During the Spring and Summer of 1986, the Police building (Bldg. 30) was expanded; office facilities were increased, as was the Emergency Garage, which houses the airport's aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicles.

RUNWAYS
There are two main runways, 4-22 and 13-31. Each is 7,000 feet long by 150 feet wide.
The first 330-foot long section of the safety overrun for Runway 13/31 opened for use before the 1994-95 snow season. Part of a massive engineering effort, the safety overrun is now 460 feet long by 740 feet wide and provides added access to the safety area for emergency equipment and personnel.
In 1994, both runways and sections of the taxiways were repaved and new aeronautical signage (distance markers) was installed.
In a $40 million project, completed in 1967 by the Port Authority, both runways were extended over water to 7,000 feet by 150 feet wide. The extensions were built on a 50-acre, L-shaped pile-supported concrete structure ranging in width from 700 to 900 feet.

The northerly 2,000-foot (by 150 feet wide) extension to Runway 4-22, complete with a taxiway and holding pad, was built into Rikers Island Channel and opened to air traffic in March 1966. Similarly, the westerly 1,035-foot (by 150 feet wide) extension to runway 13-31, with its parallel taxiway was extended into the Channel and opened to air traffic in November 1966. Two 3,000-foot piers were constructed beyond the ends of the runway extensions to support an Approach Lighting System with sequenced flashers. A ship channel was dredged between Rikers Island and South Brother Island to replace the Rikers Island Channel, which was closed. The federal government maintains the ship channel.
Runway 4-22 is a bi-directional instrument runway, and is grooved and equipped with centerline and edge lighting. Takeoffs are permitted with visibility lower than a quarter of a mile, and landings on Runway 22 with visibility less than half a mile. Navigational aids in the 22 approach include an Instrument Lighting System (ILS), an Approach Lighting System (ALS), Touchdown Zone Lighting (TDZ), Runway End Indicator Light System (REILS), and Visual Approach Slope Indicator System (VASI). Runway 4 is equipped with an ILS, an Approach Lighting System and Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI).
Runway 13-31 is equipped with REILS at both ends, and an ILS and ALS serving Runway 13. A VASI (3 bar for wide-bodied aircraft) system serves Runway 31, and conventional VASI serves Runway 13. The runway is equipped with centerline and edge lighting, and like Runway 4-22, is grooved for added traction during wet weather.

Takeoffs are permitted with visibility lower than a quarter of a mile, and landings on Runway 13 with a half mile visibility.
All taxiways are equipped with centerline lights except for Taxiways "AC" and "R" (between Runways 22 and 13).
Nine additional aircraft parking spaces have been constructed at the end of Taxiway "E."