LaGuardia receives award from airline passengers

NEW YORK (PIX11) — From worst to best, LaGuardia Airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, is on the move.

The facility was a punchline a decade ago. In the past few years, the final stages of the $8 billion mega-project have been completed.

Two new terminals are open. There’s better access for passengers and planes. Public transportation options are still a work in progress.

More than 32 million passengers traveled through LaGuardia in 2023. The agency calls it the airport’s busiest year ever.

“It looked condemned. It looked like old New York. Now it’s new and matches the rest of the city,” said Sandra as she returned home to the city.

Construction started in 2015, and the new airport was built as planes and people continued to move.

Rick Cotton is the port’s executive director.

“It’s excellent news for airport passengers, but it’s bad news for late-night comedy hosts and writers,” he said.

The port says it’s working to expand the Q70 bus service, which connects to the No. 7 train in Jackson Heights, and create bus lanes with the city.

An express bus is also in the works from the N W train in Astoria.

An AirTrain was canceled in 2023 due to rising costs and design.

Cotton says the port authority has funded the buses.

“We are in discussions with the state and city to move that forward. We are looking at where we can use bus lanes,” he said.

The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey was conducted in 2023 with 4,200 passengers.

It was the first full year that all new passenger facilities at LaGuardia were completed and in use.

The airport earned an overall passenger satisfaction score of 4.24 out of 5, which was 20% higher than its score in 2018 when passengers rated LaGuardia as the worst airport in North America.

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