LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B

WSP USA is part of LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the team designing and building the new Central Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

The project will create a new central entry portal to the airport, unify previously unconnected terminals, and serve approximately 50 percent of the passenger volume. When completed, LaGuardia will provide New York City with a world-class facility that brings a higher level of operation for passengers, both during construction and throughout long-term operations.

LaGuardia Gateway Partners was selected for the project by the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Partner firms include 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 will be 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 Port Authority. Amenities will include transportation features such as an air train, ferry service and a people mover to help passengers traverse the entire airport.

The $3.6 billion terminal is being funded by a public-private partnership (P3), with the private sector contributing more than $2 billion and the Port Authority contributing more than $1 billion to construct the airport and supporting infrastructure. It is the largest aviation P3 currently being undertaken in the U.S.

Construction on the new terminal began July 2016. Central Terminal B will replace the current 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 will use bridges from the Arrivals and Departures Hall (also known as a headhouse) over to bright, open concourses that will 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. 

When the LaGuardia Central Terminal B project is completed in 2022, the new facility will have the capacity to handle 17 million passengers a year, with modern baggage, check-in, and a huge retail hall that includes dining space, a hotel, a conference and business center, and other features to accommodate growing passenger volumes.

WSP, together with HOK, is serving as the engineer of record through the completion of construction.