New York’s most notorious airport has made it to the small screen.
LaGuardia Airport is the subject of “ Extreme Airport Engineering,” premiering on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 9 p.m.
“Extreme Airport Engineering” will debut on NOVA, PBS’s award-winning science program. The film provides an in-depth analysis of the race to build the new LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst, Queens. The documentary provides intimate access to the team of designers, engineers, and construction workers involved in the eight-year project to revitalize the massive international airport.
The LaGuardia revitalization is the nation’s first new airport in over 25 years, costing over $ 8 billion to build. Over the eight-year-long period, 7,000 workers rebuilt the airport to create a brand new, fully connected facility that hosts over 34 million visitors per year. The project took over 72,000 tons of steel and 600,000 tons of concrete during construction. Highlights of the film include an insight into how the team of builders battled extreme weather, geological conditions, and massive machinery.
“Extreme Airport Engineering” also highlights architects’ and engineers’ plans to demolish the airport’s separate terminals and rebuild them connected, as the airport is expected to need capacity for approximately 20% more passengers by 2030.
Additionally, viewers will learn how the airport stayed open and fully operational during the construction, which created even more of a challenge for project planners, who had to build and demolish each section of the airport in stages. The film highlights that the airport’s layout changed over 100 times during the construction.
Viewers will get an in-depth look into how builders developed an innovative design for Terminal B. Design constraints prevented the site from being expanded, as it borders water on one side and highways on another.
Filmmakers Joby Lubman, Selina Tso, and Michael Cimpher spent seven years developing the project. Lubman, who worked as a producer and writer, spoke to QNS about the scope of the massive film project.
Lubman said that the process began in 2018, with the team spending about a year meeting with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey(PANYNJ), contractors, and stakeholders to get greenlit on access to the airport to start filming the project.
Filming began in 2020, and the team put together the project during 2021 and 2022, with the final product being released to eager audiences all over the world this January. “It was such a vast undertaking with so many players. But we got on-site, and we were able to film across a series of months to create this film, to give a reasonably comprehensive overview of the process, the challenges, of building a new airport on top of the old airport without interrupting flights,” Lubman said.
Lubman hopes that audience members will gain insight into the complexity of LaGuardia Airport. “ That airport is out on a limb. Three sides are water; the other side is hemmed in by that highway, so they’ve got extremely limited access,” Lubman said. “ One of our contributors describes it as a ballet on a postage stamp. Trying to bring trucks on and off the sites, trying to keep operations going smoothly whilst facilitating the construction was really something to behold.”
Lubman added that he hoped viewers would appreciate the team of ironworkers who worked on the massive reconstruction project. “ Absolutely amazing folk who were building this airport, who were super professional, focused, and dedicated to bringing this airport to life, Lubman said. “ From start to finish, it was an impressive process to behold, a juggling act of construction and operations.”
Lubman stated that the team of filmmakers was motivated to take on this project because it provided a unique opportunity to showcase the construction of a new airport at the same site as the old one while still keeping the airport operational. “As a unique feat of engineering, this was a once-in-a-career opportunity to see a process happening, which is hopefully going to benefit the local community, local travelers, and benefit the future of New York City.”
Tune in to PBS tonight or stream it at pbs.org/nova or by downloading the PBS App.
