By Sarina Trangle
Queens’ airports are due for takeoff.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced during his annual address that the state would assume control of the central terminal redevelopment project at LaGuardia Airport and construction at John F. Kennedy International Airport, eliciting a chorus of complaints about the state of the airports from passengers and lawmakers.
Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks calling LaGuardia a Third World facility seemed to resonate.
With the state’s guidance, the Port Authority is planning sweeping changes to LaGuardia designed to increase the East Elmhurst airport’s capacity with a new central terminal that can accommodate the 17.5 million travelers it is projected to get in 2030.
Elected officials have also coalesced around the drive to improve JFK’s cargo capacity as a means of generating revenue for the Port Authority and the surrounding economy. The Port Authority, a bistate agency overseen by the New York and New Jersey governors, operates LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports.
Lysa Scully, interim acting general manager of LaGuardia, said the airport’s $3.6 billion redevelopment project, centered around the construction of a larger, 1.3-million-square-foot central terminal building, would ease congestion on and off the runways.
“We’re very excited,” she said. “This will give us more comfortable gate areas for larger aircraft and more space for customers. Concessions vendors will be post-security. There should be quicker movement through security.”
The current terminal was designed in 1964 to handle 8 million passengers annually. Despite an expansion in the 1990s, the facility struggled to absorb 13 million passengers in 2013. It is projected to welcome 17.5 million travelers by 2030.
Federal regulations prevent LaGuardia from dispatching more than 75 commercial flights during peak hours, which means increasing traffic is out of the question.
Scully said the new terminal will shift its 35 gates closer to Grand Central Parkway, allowing for reworked runways that will no longer require planes to be tugged into tight parking positions. More spacious gates will host larger planes, raising the average passenger load from 100 to 120, according to Mike Moran, manager of physical plant and redevelopment at LaGuardia.
The new terminal is expected to be completed by 2019. When the entire redevelopment project concludes in 2021, the terminal will be complemented by a new parking lot, enhanced roadways — some elevated to offer pedestrians a path above vehicles — and an underground piping system that with a later capital project could be used to fuel planes at the gate instead of having trucks transport the gas.
Recent projects at Kennedy have focused on improving cargo operations.
In 2012, the Port Authority announced it had signed a 20-year lease with ARK Development LLC to operate an animal kennel facility at JFK, which was expected to generate $108 million in rent.
Officials cut the ribbon in April on a $5 million travel plaza near the Jamaica airport featuring a car wash, food court, fueling stations and parking areas designed to boost the $6.5 billion air cargo industry.
The emphasis on freight transportation coincided with a 2013 city Economic Development Corp. study noting that JFK had dropped from third to seventh nationwide in air cargo tonnage since the beginning of the century.
But the real estate firm CBRE announced in October that freight companies would begin moving into the first cargo facility built near JFK in 10 years.
The Port Authority said freight has picked up, with March 2014 figures up 5.2 percent from March 2013.
Cargo aside, the Port Authority has been heralding Delta’s ongoing expansion at Terminal 4. The airline is moving out of the 1960s-era Terminal 3, which will be razed to make room for aircraft parking.
Stephen Sigmund, executive director of the metro airport advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance, said Cuomo’s decision to have the state oversee airport projects means they will be prioritized.
But he said the federal government ought to show the same initiative.
A 2009 Global Gateway Alliance report found that LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty airports collectively account for one-third of the nation’s flight delays, with congestion delaying departures an average of 68 minutes and arrivals an average of 53 minutes in 2007.
Sigmund said acquiring the Next Generation Air Transportation System, which functions like a GPS for aircraft, would allow airports to direct more planes in and out during a shorter time frame than the radar system currently used.
“You can do all you want on the terminals and runways,” Sigmund said. “You’re not really going to fix the problem until you fix the problem in the sky.”
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
