Laguardia Airport

About Laguardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) (pronounced /ləˈɡwɑɹdiə/) is an airport located in Queens County on Long Island in the The City of New York . The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport after aviation pioneer Glenn Hammond Curtiss then renamed North Beach Airport, then later named for Fiorello La Guardia, a former mayor of New York who built the airport. In 1960, it was voted the "greatest airport in the world" by the worldwide aviation community. "LaGuardia Airport" is the official name of the airport according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the facility.

LaGuardia is the smallest of the New York metropolitan area's three primary commercial airports, the other two of which are John F. Kennedy International Airport in southern Queens and Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. It is larger, however, than nearby alternative airports Long Island MacArthur Airport in Suffolk County, Westchester County Airport in Westchester County, and to a lesser extent, Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York. LaGuardia is popular due to its central location and proximity to Manhattan. In spite of the airport's small size, wide-body aircraft once visited regularly; the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 were even specifically designed for use at LaGuardia. From 2000-2005 Delta operated the 767-400ER with 285 seats. Today, there are no scheduled widebody flights, though occasionally Delta rotates a Boeing 767-300 in for one of its many Atlanta flights. The airport serves as a hub for Delta Air Lines and as a focus city for American Airlines and US Airways, and their regional affiliates.

Most flights from LaGuardia go to destinations within the US and Canada, as well as service to Aruba, the Bahamas and Bermuda. The airport has INS/FIS facilities capable of processing customs and immigration on arriving international flights; the facilities are insufficient to handle efficiently the number of passengers that a non-precleared scheduled airline service would require. LaGuardia is the busiest airport in the US without any non-stop service to and from Europe.