The catalyst for LaGuardia being developed for commercial flights came from its namesake, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. He is a very colorful character worthy of a novel, let alone his own blog entry. In fact, a musical (Fiorello) was even written about him. Check it out! And read about the man here.
At any rate, the story goes Fiorello La Guardia was flying into New York with a ticket that read "New York," but ended up landing in Newark as Newark Liberty Airport was the only commercial airport serving NYC at the time. After being flown to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, La Guardia held an impromptu news conference urging New Yorkers to support a new airport within their own city. Construction on La Guardia airport began in 1937 with the help of the WPA and American Airlines.
The airport opened for business December 2, 1939. We have to remember in 1939, air travel was not nearly as common as it is today. People were fascinated by the idea of air travel and were willing to pay just for the opportunity to watch the planes take off! People paid a dime to watch this spectacle and in two years the airport raised $285,000 just in observation fees! What was once considered a $23 million"boondoggle"* (Note: some price estimates were $40 million) quickly became a financial success! Other airports, including Newark Liberty, were not able to keep up with La Guardia airports success. LaGuardia soon won bids from the five largest airlines in the world before the airport was even entirely completed!
LaGuardia wasn't used solely for commercial flights. As you may have noticed, the opening date is ominously close to the start of WWII. It was used as a training facility for pilots during the war.
At the time LaGuardia airport was completed, it was considered a very large airport. It soon became comparatively small. By 1968 general aviation aircraft were actually charged fees to operate out of LaGuardia during peak hours! Other laws and fines were put into effect to stop overcrowding. In 1984, a "perimeter rule" was put into effect, banning non-stop flights to cities further than 1,500 miles away from LaGuardia Sunday-Friday. The FAA also limited the number of flights and types of aircraft that could opera from LaGuardia. In 2007, Congress passed an Act that revoked federal traffic limits to LaGuardia. The biggest impact on reducing overcrowding, however, came from the 9/11 attacks. Reduced demand for air travel to the NYC area greatly slowed LaGuardia's traffic growth. Since then, the Port Authority has made several renovations and monetary investments to make the airport's operations more efficient and improve the airfield layout. Additionally, Port Authority created rail networks such as AirTrain Newark and AirTrain JFK to make LaGuardia's competitor airports more enticing to travelers and airlines. Still, as every holiday traveller knows, LaGuardia falls victim to frequent delays. (The lady who works the Hudson Newsstand at LaGuardia's terminal A informed that the morning flights are always on time, but as the day progresses more and more delays accumulate. So if you are pressed for time, wake up for that 7 a.m. flight!)
If you should visit my friendly Hudson Newsstand friend in terminal A, be to sure to look for the 235 foot James Brooks mural entitled "Flight." Business Insider published a beautiful article about the mural a few years ago, which I'm just going to link you to instead of rehash myself. It's a wonderful little treasure of an article so please do yourself a favor and visit the link! http://www.businessinsider.com/laguardia-airports-mural-has-a-secret-communist-message-2010-12 After reading the article, look up in terminal A as the author suggests and revisit a time "when air travel for the masses was a glittering promise, and then when it became a subversive idea."
*"boondoggle" is my favorite word of the week!
No comments:
Post a Comment