LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B

WSP USA was part of LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the team that designed and built the new Central Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

The new terminal provides a new central entry portal to the airport, unifies previously unconnected terminals, and serves approximately 50 percent of the passenger volume. LaGuardia provides New York City with a world-class facility that brings a higher level of operation for passengers.

LaGuardia Gateway Partners was selected for the project by the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). Partner firms included WSP and HOK as the design joint venture; Skanska and Meridiam for development and equity investment; Skanska and Walsh Construction as the construction joint venture; and Vantage Airport Group for management of the operations.

The new terminal was designed to seamlessly integrate with future amenities, such as premier retail and dining space, a hotel, a conference and business center, and other modern features that will generate revenue for the PANYNJ. Amenities will include transportation features such as an air train, ferry service and a people mover to help passengers traverse the entire airport.

The USD $3.6 billion (CAD 4.7 billion) terminal was funded by a public-private partnership (P3), with the private sector contributing more than USD $2 billion (CAD $2.6 billion) and the PANYNJ contributing more than USD $1 billion (CAD $1.3 billion) to construct the airport and supporting infrastructure. It is the largest aviation P3 undertaken in the U.S.

Construction on the new terminal began July 2016. Central Terminal B replaces the previous terminal, which was built in 1964 to accommodate eight million passengers a year, and at a time when security needs and passenger amenities were not what they are today.

The new terminal uses bridges from the Arrivals and Departures Hall (also known as a headhouse) over to bright, open concourses that give passengers a bird’s-eye view of the airside operation and the concourses.

The first concourse – Concourse B – opened to the public in December 2018. The headhouse opened to the public in June 2020. In August 2020, the first seven new gates in the new Western Concourse were opened.

The new facility has the capacity to handle 17 million passengers a year, with modern baggage, check-in, and a huge retail hall that offers best-in-class retail, vast dining experiences, stunning art and amenities, and a water feature that is unique to any airport in the world. It is the first airline terminal in North America to achieve the highest global five-star airport terminal rating from Skytrax, the international airport rating firm.

WSP, in joint venture with HOK, served as the engineer of record through the completion of construction.