US: LaGuardia airport’s new terminal hall set to open Saturday

LaGuardia Airport’s new arrivals and departures hall at Terminal B will open Saturday despite a global pandemic that has decimated air travel. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who held his daily coronavirus briefing in the new terminal building Wednesday, said the opening was a welcome development as the region begins to reopen after a three-month shutdown. “We needed this today,” Cuomo said. “We needed to see the light at the end of the tunnel.” The new 8,500-square-foot arrivals and departures hall is part of an $8b overhaul of the airport’s three main terminal buildings, which began in 2016. The hall includes soaring works of public art, three times as much space for security checks and 17 large bathrooms with touch-free sinks and hand dryers. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, it also includes plexiglass screens at check-in desks, retail and food areas, as well as hundreds of stations dispensing sanitizing liquids and wipes. The Terminal B project is being built by a consortium that includes airport developer and manager Vantage Airport Group. Airport officials said the project is on track to be completed in about 18 months. Vantage will operate the terminal through 2050. Before the pandemic, Terminal B handled about half of LaGuardia’s 31m annual passengers. George Casey, chief executive of Vantage Airport Group, said daily passenger numbers are slowly climbing, numbering in the thousands today compared with hundreds weeks ago.<br/>