
The new LaGuardia will replace separate terminals with a unified structure. (Image: New York Governor’s Office)
When New York State officials unveiled plans last year for a huge reconstruction of LaGuardia Airport, they said that Delta Air Lines would play a major role in the project. And now Delta has firmed up its plans for a new presence at LGA.
Just hours after it revealed that it will undertake a major overhaul of Los Angeles International’s Terminals 2 and 3, where it will relocate its LAX operations, Delta announced plans to replace its Terminals C and D at LaGuardia with a new 37-gate terminal featuring four concourses linked by a central check-in lobby, security checkpoint and baggage claim area.
The new terminal will include a new and bigger Sky Club with a Sky Deck, Delta said, along with wider concourses, bigger gate areas with more seating, and 30 percent more concessions space than the existing Terminals C and D.
“The facility will also offer direct access between the parking garage and terminal, improved roadways and drop-off/pick-up areas, and a curbside check-in bypass leading directly into the security checkpoint,” the company noted. And most of the new gates will have access to dual taxi lanes for aircraft, which will mean less taxi time to and from the gate.

The current terminal layout at LGA- Delta is in Terminal C and D. (Image: LaGuardia Airport)
Delta said construction of the new facility will begin “as soon as possible, following regulatory approvals and final lease negotiations.” The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey this week approved the project as part of a new lease agreement to be negotiated for Delta’s continuing presence at LGA through 2050.
Delta currently operates 275 departures a day at LaGuardia from Terminals A, C and D.
The plans for a new Delta terminal at LGA are just part of a larger multi-year redevelopment of the entire airport that will cost $4 billion and will bring passenger terminals together into a large, modernistic structure that will be hundreds of feet closer to the Grand Central Parkway than the airport’s existing facilities. The project will also create new transportation links to Manhattan via an AirTrain system and passenger ferries, as well as a new hotel/conference center.
Related: Delta seeks La Guardia-California nonstops
The approval of Delta’s plans for a big new terminal at LaGuardia has revived speculation that the airline might expect a favor from New York State and the Port Authority in return – specifically, a lifting of LaGuardia’s Perimeter Rule, which limits flights out of LGA to a maximum of 1,500 miles – preventing airlines from tapping into lucrative transcontinental non-stop routes, now available only from New York JFK and Newark airports.
Would you fly Delta more if it could finable nonstops to LGA from the West Coast? What are your thoughts on La Guardia airport overall? Please leave your comments below.
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