I’ve read what feels like a ton of posts, articles, and tweets about Governor Cuomo’s approach to LaGuardia, and I can’t take it anymore!
Perhaps the best article (and I’ll call it an article, because it was via Travel and Leisure), was Seth Miller’s on how $4 Billion Later, New York’s LaGuardia Airport is Still Not Going to be Good Enough. The fact is, before you even read what I have to write, the answer is – Seth’s right.
Why bother adding to the mix?
Because, I grew up in New York, I flew from LaGuardia, until my parents had the good sense to either have us fly from JFK (when we were flying internationally, because it was a non-stop), or fly from Long Island Islip’s MacArthur Airport, when we’d have to connect anyway. Despite all that, I still flew from LaGuardia in my adulthood, in fact, most recently on a trip for my wife’s birthday a few years ago to Seoul.
All that said, my only tie to it, really is the history of it. From Wikipedia:
The initiative to develop the airport for commercial flights began with an outburst by New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia (in office from 1934 to 1945) upon the arrival of his TWA flight at Newark Airport – the only commercial airport serving the New York City region at the time – as his ticket said “New York”. He demanded to be taken to New York, and ordered the plane to be flown to Brooklyn‘s Floyd Bennett Field, giving an impromptu press conference to reporters along the way. He urged New Yorkers to support a new airport within their city.[9]
Now, I can totally see the point of pride, of having a commercial airport serving your city from your city. And in fact now, there are two airports within the confines of New York City, perhaps separated by the largest short term parking lot of any airport (I joke).
Is there a better way?
That’s the real question, isn’t it? Most clean-sheet (and I’m not even sure if that’s a technical term) airports are designed outside of major cities, like Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, or on reclaimed islands, such as Hong Kong International Airport. Somehow I doubt there’s really room for a reclaimed island in the Long Island Sound, or on the south shore, so really, the best they can do is refurbish, rebuild, revitalize. But is the $4 billion dollar plan the right option? $4 billion is a lot of money. I can’t even fathom that much being spent while adding so little. As Seth highlights, that $4 billion will make improve passenger flow by connecting all gates inside security.
The reason I’m shaking my head
Perhaps the most perplexing part for me though, is the fact that this plan doesn’t truly “fix” the transportation problem. New York, much like London, Hong Kong, Chicago, and other major cities, has a great (ok, pretty decent?) mass transit system. The plan doesn’t really seem connect the airports to the existing transit system. Yes, there’s an AirTrain. And by the way, AirTrain seems to be the approach for all New York area Airports. In London, they have the Heathrow Express, however the Piccadilly Line also links Heathrow to central London, so you have a choice. In Hong Kong, there is the Airport Express, a single train for the bulk of passengers, stopping at residential areas, as well as Central (on Hong Kong Island) and Kowloon side. Yes, you board a bus afterwards to get to your hotel, but the transfer is seldom stressful.
Now, New York is not alone in things that make you scratch (or shake) your head. Denver International Airport doesn’t have a rail connection to downtown Denver–in fact it is under environmental review. Don’t even get me started with the Dulles Rail project going to one of my local Washington, DC airports.
It still boggles my mind, that big thinkers are building great airports, but never really think about what passengers will do once they exit the airport. I mean, airports aren’t the destination, cities, are often the destination.
Wrapping up
Really all this comes down to is, New York’s Governor wants to spend money to put another bandaid on what is more likely metaphorically equivalent to tendonitis. The problem is not just LaGuardia, it impacts the entire New York region. Will $4 billion fix it? No. Really, it comes down to what an former boss of mine liked to say: “you can put lipstick on a pig, but, at the end of the day, it is still a pig.“
I don’t get this article. They are adding tons of parking garage space, connecting it by ferry and airtrain, and greatly improving the traffic flow. It’s friggin NYC there is no where to build a new airport from scratch. Yah it would be great to bring in LIRR and Subway right to the airport – but its impossible to do.
What really is the issue is the terminal is horrid (fixing that), traffic pattern is horrid and doesn’t connect at all to trains (fixing that), the taxiways are horrid (fixing that) – leaving they really need landfill island to create a better runway system. That should be your real complaint IMHO.
Fair point – they are connecting it, but the fact remains, these are still bandaids, these are not true fixes.
Your point is taken on the Denver Airport piece — I was looking quickly for a link and settled too soon. I had remembered seeing pictures of the station (and a new airport hotel) but couldn’t get the right search terms I guess.
1) Sorry I didn’t say love your blog! 2) I think they are more than bandaids. They are more like surgery on the battlefield rather than back in the US at a modern hospital. It’s the only option otherwise you die. 3) (and its same in my life) with all this internet and technology, why are we more busy/rushed not less? 🙂
1) — Thanks!! I sincerely appreciate it! 2) Pushing the metaphor further, I can see your point… Battlefield surgery, I like that. 3) I’d argue that internet and technology more often has the effect of creating more work, more things to do, more distractions, than necessarily making life easier. Automation though is really where technology can help (more on that later this week). But in the big scheme of things, think: Without social media and near-instant communication, would we know about MH370 developments? or tons of other things happening? Of course, the net impact is, we’re trying to process so many more things, that farmers pre-information age never had to (bad example).
Also the Denver Airport line as it says on your link, was under enviromental review in 2009. It’s under full construction http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/ec_26, andif you click on What’s New – they have test rail cars already at the airport running.
Of course, this idea of building a new airport in bfe is horrible for passengers (such as at DIA) because passengers waste an hour traveling from and to the airport on top of the incredibly slow process of moving through the airport to their gate.
Without high speed rail, the bfe idea is garbage.
LaGuardia’s major problems are:
1. Congested airspace. This plan does nothing to address.
2. Insufficient runway capacity. This plan chooses not to address, because it would take too long and they wanted the project done quickly.
3. Transportation to/from downtown. It’s still the close-in airport, and convenient, but not well connected. This plan doesn’t improve things. The ferry idea was a failure in the past too, by the way (and you still have to get to the ferry, and from the Marine Air Terminal probably by bus to the main terminal).
What LaGuardia doesn’t need:
1. Better shopping and an on-airport hotel
2. Connected terminals, it’s nice but just build connectors.
3. Central security. Having multiple checkpoints in most terminals means curb to gate in 5 minutes, easy in and out.
The reason this is a bad plan is because it’s “the plan” — in other words, this is INSTEAD OF whatever else might be done probably for decades.
LaGuardia is going to be worse in the interim while the project is underway. If it happens. The project will be more expensive. And it won’t fix the most important things wrong with the airport.
Well said – however, I’m not sure how you fix congested airspace without considering whether you need to consolidate the airports in the region… and if so, then you’re talking a rather significant effort. Runway capacity is a similar issue, they do enhance taxiway space, but that doesn’t get planes off the ground. Transportation to/from downtown is my biggest issue with the plan (or lack there-of).
When you say it will be worse in the interim, you are right, but I suspect, it will still be worse even when all the aspects of the plan are complete.
Billions have already been wasted on NextGen ATC, but we can and should be able to increase the capacity and throughput of our airspace. That’s a lot more important than connecting terminals and building a hotel.
Agree, but, I’m not sure that an airport by airport, or even region by region approach works toward increasing airspace capacity. The FAA’s NexGen program continues to produce less than stellar results.It’d be nice if the technology that is being used to provide wi-fi onboard aircraft (well, other than United), could somehow help the problem…