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LaGuardia Airport Was Just Named the World’s Best for Something

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Be still our cynical hearts. LaGuardia Airport just won a superlative — on the right side of the spectrum. Well, part of LaGuardia.

Terminal B at the Queens hub has been named the world’s best new airport terminal, based on a global passenger survey conducted by airport rating firm SKYTRAX, the Port Authority exuberantly announced Tuesday.

The state-of-the-art, 1.3 million-square-foot terminal, home to American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, United Airlines and Air Canada, also became the first terminal in North America to earn the highest five-star rating from SKYTRAX and is among fewer than two dozen airports and terminals worldwide to earn five stars for global best practices.

SKYTRAX’s World Airport Awards, supposedly the “Oscars of the airline industry,” assesses customer services and facilities across more than 550 airports, surveying customers on matters ranging from check-in to shopping, security, comfort, ambiance, and bar and restaurant choice. As the Port Authority says, the accolade marks LaGuardia’s transformation from the nation’s worst airport to the world’s best (terminal, that is).

Terminal B opened in phases, beginning in 2018 and completed in 2022, and was part of an $8 billion transformation of LaGuardia that made it the first new major airport built in the United States in the last 25 years. It offers a world-class experience that includes spacious interiors, floor-to-ceiling windows, a 3,000-car parking garage, new covered and convenient pickup facilities for both taxis and ride-sharing vehicles and dual sky bridges above active taxiways.

(Here are a few ways to get there, you know, since the AirTrain plan is officially dead.)

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Newark Liberty Airport’s new Terminal A got a solid mention, earning the title of the globe’s third-best new terminal.

LaGuardia’s multi-billion dollar facelift is finally finished, after a long six years.

SKYTRAX applies ratings for up to 800 customer-facing areas of airport product and service, which spans numerous customer contact points. The star-rating methodology is unified and consistent for the industry, and all airports from the largest hubs to small regional facilities are assessed using the same base rating criteria that covers the front-line customer experience on the end-to-end journey through an airport. Learn more here.

“Our goal at the Port Authority was to completely transform the customer experience at LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Terminal A, from curb to gate, by building a brand-new, world-class airport and terminal,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a statement. “Winning this prestigious award and becoming the first North American airport terminal to receive a 5-star rating from SKYTRAX proves that we have accomplished what many once said was impossible: elevate LaGuardia from worst to best.”

“These awards are an affirmation of the work of the Port Authority and our partners to reimagine what LaGuardia and Newark Liberty Terminal A could be. With sleek and modern designs, world-class amenities and engaging public art, both Newark Terminal A and LaGuardia are now setting a new global standard for air travel each and every day,” added Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “The fact that in only three months of operation Newark Liberty’s new Terminal A is already turning heads around the world is an extraordinary achievement in and of itself.”

Source: NBC New York

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