LaGuardia has long been considered the armpit of New York’s airports. President Joe Biden famously compared its decrepit facilities to a “third-world country,” and Travel & Leisure noted that it “has the dubious honor of ranking the worst” for the check-in and security process, baggage handling, providing Wi-Fi, staff communication, overall design, and cleanliness.” Responding to these criticisms, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced in 2015 an $8 billion revamp of its passenger infrastructure over the next decade. The first phase, which saw the 56-year-old airport’s central terminal reopen in 2020, jettisoned its cramped facilities for an airy replacement filled with sunlight and public art.
With the recent completion of Terminal C, which serves Delta Air Lines, LaGuardia’s revamp is mostly finished. Beyond state-of-the-art facilities that are 85 percent more spacious than their predecessors, the gleaming new 37-gate terminal features a distinctive collection of artworks by local talents selected by Delta in partnership with the Queens Museum. Large-scale permanent installations by Mariam Ghani, Rashid Johnson, Aliza Nisenbaum, Ronny Quevedo, Fred Wilson, and Virginia Overton lend dynamism to the new terminal while offering passersby a peek inside the minds of some of the city’s most renowned artists. “All these works are very rooted in what it means to live in New York,” says Queens Museum president and director Sally Tallant.
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