Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that more than half of the nearly 400 new hires for jobs ranging from cashiers to managers at LaGuardia Airport’s new Terminal B Concourse are residents of Queens communities. Between August and the end of December, Terminal B’s concession partners hired 374 new employees for the new concourse, with 55 percent of those hires being residents of Queens. The spacious new concourse, housing 18 gates and a wide array of world-class amenities, became the first part of the airport’s $8 billion redevelopment, two-thirds of which is privately financed, to open to passengers this past December. The rebuilding of LaGuardia Airport has also benefitted Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises, who have received a total of 849 contracts with a combined value of nearly $1.15 billion.
“The transformation of LaGuardia Airport is enhancing the overall travel experience and creating jobs for local residents,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. “We’re committed to making sure that the redevelopment of the airport is providing new opportunities for New Yorkers, and continuing to grow the economy of the entire State of New York.”
The Council for Airport Opportunity (CAO), together with the LaGuardia Community Outreach team, partnered with LaGuardia Gateway Partners and concession operators HMSHost, SSP America, Hudson Group and the Marshall Retail Group to ensure Queens residents were given ample opportunity to join their workforces. Delta Air Lines, which is building a new Terminal C on the eastern side of the airport to replace the existing Terminals C & D, is also working with CAO and its concession operators to target local hires as new jobs become available.
The hiring campaign is the result of a dedicated outreach effort led by the Port Authority and the LaGuardia Redevelopment Community Outreach team, which has participated in more than 25 job fairs across Queens with multiple private sector and public sector partners, as part of the state’s commitment to local economic growth.
In July 2018, Governor Cuomo announced $1.4 million in new funding for the Council for Airport Opportunity (CAO) to build a new office in East Elmhurst/Corona near LaGuardia Airport, in collaboration with local community-based organizations, Elmcor and NHS of Queens, that focus on providing opportunities for local residents to benefit from the airport’s redevelopment.
