Critics Say It's Time To Close La Guardia Airport

HughPickens.com writes: George Haikalis writes in the NYT that last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey put off, yet again, deciding between two proposals for a nearly $4 billion project to rehabilitate the dilapidated Central Terminal Building at La Guardia Airport. But piling billions of taxpayer dollars into upgrading La Guardia, which has been likened to an experience "in a third world country," won't solve its fundamental problems. "It can't easily expand," says Haikalis. "Its two runways and four terminals are surrounded on three sides by water, making landing difficult and hazardous. Parking is a nightmare."

There are precedents for replacing airports close to the center city with modern, more outlying airports. Hong Kong and Denver are two examples; Berlin will soon follow suit. With the consolidation of the major United States airlines and the sluggishness in the global economy, the much larger Kennedy and Newark airports could accommodate La Guardia's passenger load, by adding more frequent service and using larger aircraft, if the F.A.A. were to lift the caps on the number of flights allowed there. Kennedy, with its two sets of parallel runways, could handle many more flights, particularly as new air-traffic control technology is introduced in the next few years. The money budgeted for the La Guardia upgrades would be better used to create a long-proposed one-ride express-rail link between Manhattan and J.F.K., by reviving a long-disused, 3.5-mile stretch of track in central Queens and completing the modernization of the terminals at Kennedy. "By avoiding the costly replacement of outmoded terminals at La Guardia and by creating a new express rail link and upgrading terminals at Kennedy, the increased economic activity could more than make up for the lost jobs," concludes Haikalis. "New York's importance to America's economy demands a first world vision to shutter this third world airport."

Comments

Error in summary:

[Smidge204]

"Parking is a nightmare."

This statement implies parking is even possible.

Last time I went there to pick someone up, I drove around in circles in a holding pattern comparable to the planes themselves. "Parking" is not something that actually occurs at La Guardia.
=Smidge=

Re:Error in summary:

[Anonymous Coward]

RER (regional transit line) is a piece of cake to take into the city. I do it a couple of times a year. Or you can take the train elsewhere. Not sure what you're looking for. If you prefer, you can take the bus; I hear it's nice. Or taxis aren't so expensive either. And considering there are two or three other airports of note in the area... CDG is more like JFK, not La Guardia.

London has a fast train out; my only comment would be that London goes through nicer neighborhoods, and if you aren't used to Paris you may not like the suburbs you have to travel through on the RER line. But it's rarely a problem.

Re:No thank you

[antiperimetaparalogo]

Well, George Haikalis (civil engineer / transportation planner), as a Greek (American), is apparently influenced by the ideas of Constantinos Doxiadis, a well known internationally Greek architect and city planner (e.g., master planner of Pakistan's capital new builded city, Islamabad) who was proposing closing our old airport in Athens and building a new for decades before that happened (just before the 2004 Olympics) - our new Athens airport, while far from the city center (but with an express metro rail link), is far more efficient, and has contributed to the economy (don't laugh... at least our tourism does great, this year we had more than 20 million visits in Greece -double our population-, many of them landing in Athens before going to the islands, something our old airport could not provide because of its limits). Many (most) Athenians were against the new airport (and/or closing our old), but now everyone agrees that it was the right thing. And the old airport's area, inside Athens (and next to the sea), is now the biggest free zone for city development in Europe (something we hope will bring few billions Euros, as we may need them right now!). But the key was the express metro rail link between the airport and Athens center, something George Haikalis surely used many times - if Athens can do it right, NY can do it better.

Re:Small Airports Have Advantages

[sam1am]

I would love to see these large airports replaced with multiple smaller airports. A larger percentage of the population would have an airport nearby, and average travel times would be reduced significantly. It seems to me that planners are optimizing for everything except your personal experience when they design and advocate for mega-airports.

There is a challenge with replacing all large airports with smaller ones, when using a hub and spoke model. If you have smaller airports, you have fewer destinations, and fewer connecting flight options. NYC (DC, LA, SFO, Boston) as a gateway to the US from overseas makes some sense - lots of O/D traffic, and for those that want to continue onward, they can. I fly from my local smaller airport, which I love. And whenever I can, I use my smaller regional airport. But it doesn't always reduce travel time - it often increases it due to the need to connect for most destinations. In fact, it'll be faster for me to drive to JFK (two+ hours) for an upcoming trip to eliminate a nearly three hour flight and one hour connection - in the "wrong" direction.