Cuomo Celebrates Opening Of New LaGuardia Airport Hall

NEW YORK CITY — LaGuardia Airport will open a brand new hall just in time for jet-setting New Yorkers traveling to staying home until the uncertain end of a global pandemic.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to New York City Wednesday to cut the ribbon at the new Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall at LaGuardia Airport, 50 percent bigger than the hall it replaces, that will open Saturday.

"This should have been done decades and decades and decades ago," Cuomo said. "LaGuardia was an embarrassment."

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This is a step toward a sweeping $8 billion redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport that Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton pledged would create 14,000 jobs and direct $500 million in contracts awarded to Queens businesses.

Cotton, describing the airport as "the laughing stock on 'Saturday Night Live' skits," promised LaGuardia will see 72 new gates, six new concourses, 9.2 miles of new roadways and newly designed curbside access when completed.

Presidential nominee Joe Biden's famous comment — saying the airport looked like it was situated in a third world country — was referenced more than once.

The hall has been fitted with new normal niceties, such as hand sanitizer dispensers and touch-free entries.

Junior's Cheesecake Factory, F.A.O. Schwartz, Brooklyn Diner and Eli Zabar will all have concession stands in the hall.

LaGuardia has seen traffic decrease 95 percent during the novel coronavirus pandemic but Cotton and Cuomo were quick to defend the future of air travel.

"Yeah, it looks great," said one reporter. "But when is it really going to be needed?"

"There's no doubt that air travel will recover," Cotton said. "It's not a question of if it's a question of when."

"Planes are gonna fly, cars are gonna roll, trains are gonna move," Cuomo added. "Life goes on post-COVID."