US: New York’s LaGuardia, long in tatters, borrows big for facelift

New York is about to find out whether it’s possible to build a 35-gate terminal at New York LaGuardia around the existing one without disrupting operations or becoming plagued by cost overruns and delays. To finance construction at the airport in Queens, a group created by Swedish construction company Skanska, Canadian airport operator Vantage Airport Group and France’s Meridiam sold US$2.4b of debt Tuesday. The group, which has put up $200m in equity for the $4b project, has guaranteed it will be finished on-budget in 6 years. The Port Authority is relying on the consortium to design, build, finance and operate the new terminal, seeking to avoid the type of cost-overruns that dogged the rebuilding of the World Trade Centre by transferring some of the risk to the businesses. <br/>