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• Transportation in New York City

There are as many as three major airports which serve New York City. The largest one of them is John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK, for short), which is situated in Queens, approximately 15 miles from Midtown Manhattan. La Guardia Airport (LGA), also in Queens, is located about 8 miles from Midtown northwest of JFK. The furthest from Midtown Manhattan is Newark International Airport (EWR).

JFK International Airport

JFK International Airport, located on Jamaica Bay in southeastern Queens, is the busiest and the newest of the three major airports of New York City. Formerly known as the Idlewild Airport, in 1963 the airport was renamed after John F. Kennedy, the late American President. Since then, it has been most commonly referred to as \'\'JFK\'\' or \'\'Kennedy\'\'.

With its wide selection of flights coming from and going to all corners of the globe, the JFK International Airport has a reputation for being the top international air passenger gateway to the United States of America. It offers regular, both domestic and international flights, operated by nearly 100 carriers from more than 50 countries. The top international locations include London Heathrow, Paris, Franfurt and Tokyo.
Last year JFK handled over 42 million passengers, the largest share of all the airports in New York City.

According to a survey carried out by J.D. Power and Associates, the JFK International Airport ranks second of all the large American airports as far as the air flight travellers\' satisfaction is considered. The JFK International Airport, established in 1948, consists of as many as eight passenger terminals in operation with the free AirTrain services between them. The whole airport has been thoroughly renovated recently. In some parts the works are still in progress. Nevertheless, the only terminal which is still closed is Terminal 5, most commonly referred to as the TWA Flight Centre. The JetBlue Airways plan to reopen it as their new terminal soon. Of all the terminals, consisting of as many as 11 to 17 gates, Terminal 4, opened in 2001, is the principal gateway to all the air international travellers arriving at the JFK International Airport.


LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport, similarly to JFK situated in the Borough of Queens, is named after Fiorello Henry Laguardia, one of the New York mayors. Though it is the smallest of the three major NewYork City airports, LaGuardia Airport is popular with air travellers due to is convenient location. Namely, it is situated closer to midtown Manhattan (8 miles) than the two other airports. Thus, it is more convenient to passengers accessing it by car or by taxi. The airport, open to commercial use since 1939, handles approximately over 25 million passengers each year. It consists of as many as 72 aircraft gates.

Approximately 25 scheduled airlines operate out of LaGuardia. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and US Airways have focus city operations at LaGuardia Airport. The airport mainly serves domestic destinations and international ones to Canada, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Aruba, but has no non-stop flights to and from Europe. Hence, most transcontinental and international destinations can be reached from the two other major airports in the area, i.e. the JFK International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport.

LaGuardia Airport consists of a few terminals, of which the Central Terminal is the major one. Having been expanded and modernized in the 1990s, the building serves most of the scheduled domestic flights. It consists of 38 aircraft gates and as many as four concourses named from A to D.
US Airways and Delta Air Lines also have their own terminals at La Guardia Airport. The former, made up of 12 gates, offers shuttle flights to Washington, D.C., and Boston, whereas the latter is used by Delta Air Lines and Nortwest Airlines. There is also the Marine Air Terminal, once the airport\'s overseas terminal, out of which Delta Air Lines, the major airline of the United States, operates nowadays.

Newark Liberty International Airport


Newark Liberty International Airport is situated in Newark, New Jersey, 15 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan. Of all the American airports, it is the 10th busiest airport in the USA and the 5th busiest international airport. As far as its location is concerned, it is as easily accessible as the other two airports in the area, however, it is the oldest of them, open in 1928.

There are three passenger terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport, of which only Terminal A has no immigration facilities.