LaGuardia to be replaced with help from Delta

New York's LaGuardia Airport, consistently ranked among the worst in the United States in cleanliness, design and delays, will be torn down and rebuilt with help from Delta Air Lines Inc.

The new airport would consolidate four terminals into one, connect the facility to the New York City subway system, create more space for airplane taxiways, and add a hotel, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

The governor didn't release a timetable for the full project, though he said the first phase, the $4 billion rebuilding of the 50-year-old Central Terminal, will break ground in the first part of 2016 and take 39 months to complete.

"There's no way to fix this; we literally have to tear it down," Cuomo said in a speech to the Association for a Better New York in Manhattan.

Cuomo was joined by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, who once likened LaGuardia to an airport in a third-world country.

"New York deserves a better airport, and its future demands it," Biden said Monday. The governor's announcement came three days after LaGuardia suffered flight delays stretching to almost three hours after contractors working at terminal used by Delta accidentally cut electric cables.

Plans call for a new 35-gate facility with more restaurants, stores, bigger gate areas and improved passenger and baggage screening.

Ed Bastian, president of Atlanta-based Delta, commended Cuomo on the reconstruction plan. Delta has has spent more than $2 billion on infrastructure upgrades at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports, he said.

The new central terminal, also known as Terminal B, will be built in stages, Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye said. Tenants of the Central Terminal include United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

LaGuardia Airport, in the borough of Queens, was voted America's dirtiest and most poorly designed by readers of Travel & Leisure magazine in 2012. Built in 1964, with a capacity of 8 million annual air passengers, the central terminal is expected to serve 17.5 million passengers annually by 2030, according to the Port Authority.