LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering 680 acres in its present form, the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and among pilots is sometimes nicknamed “USS LaGuardia” in reference to its short runways surrounded by Flushing Bay, thus giving the feel of landing on an aircraft carrier.
The airport primarily accommodates airline service to domestic (and limited international) destinations. As of 2019, it was the third-busiest airport in the New York metropolitan area behind John F. Kennedy and Newark airports, and the twenty-first busiest in the United States by passenger volume. While the airport is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, commercial service is strictly governed by unique regulations including a curfew, a slot system, and a “perimeter rule” prohibiting nonstop flights to or from destinations greater than 1,500 miles.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in 2015 announced a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction of the airport’s passenger infrastructure, which is expected to be complete by 2025.
