JFK vs LaGuardia vs Newark - New York City's Airports Compared

new york city the business district of america and one of the most important cities in the world this bustling hub of american culture is mainly serviced by three airports john f kennedy newark liberty and laguardia these three airports are among the busiest in the country and are all somewhat different so let's compare the new york area's airports and see how they stack up against each other first of all let's get a sense of where these airports are in relation to new york city here's a map of the five boroughs and here are the locations of the three airports right away you'll notice that newark liberty is not actually in new york city it's in the state of new jersey shared by the cities of elizabeth and you guessed it newark on the other hand jfk and laguardia are both found within new york city limits in queens related to this reaching jfk and laguardia via public transportation is really easy jfk's rail system airtrain is directly connected to the rest of the new york city subway and the long island railroad of course mta buses provide direct transport to and from the airport as well laguardia is also serviced by mta buses which take passengers to the rest of the subway system and other destinations around the city newark has slightly different options since it isn't in new york city its airtrain system is directly connected to amtrak and new jersey transit lines and is also a stop for several nj transit buses if you're traveling to the airports by road interstate 78 and 95 pass by newark interstate 678 goes directly to jfk and the grand central parkway passes right by laguardia newark is the oldest passenger airport in the new york metro area and it opened in 1928 as newark metropolitan airport it held the title of the busiest airport in the world for 11 years until laguardia took the title in 1939. the airport went through some challenging times in the early 1950s due to several aviation incidents but we'll talk more about that later in the modern day newark is still an important airport ranking as the 43rd busiest in the world by passenger volume in 2019 serving 46 million 336 452 total passengers that year it ranked as the 11th busiest airport in the united states in 2018. newark is the third largest hub for united airlines and is a regional hub for fedex express like i previously mentioned laguardia airport became the busiest in the world in 1939 but the airfield existed for a decade before then as a private airport called curtis airport and then north beach airport new york's mayor at the time laguardia began a push for a commercial airport within new york city during the 1930s as newark was the only commercial airport in the region then north beach airport in queens was chosen as the site after some testing and by 1939 the city reopened it to the public as a new and modern facility called new york municipal airport it quickly drew attention away from its only competitor newark by 1947 its name had been officially changed to laguardia though laguardia was very prominent in its early days in modern times it's relatively small compared to jfk in newark and today it's the 21st busiest airport in the us having served 30 million 94 074 passengers in 2018. american airlines and delta airlines both use laguardia as a small hub an interesting note about laguardia is its perimeter rule which prevents flights to or from locations that are over 1500 miles away the exception is flights to denver and saturday flights jfk is the newest of the three airports having opened in 1948 with the name new york international airport the airport was commonly called idlewild though since it replaced a golf course with that name and this name was used up until it was renamed after president kennedy just a month after his assassination in 1963. the airport was built to relieve the overcrowding of laguardia and it soon became the most prominent airport in the area with international flights at laguardia being cancelled and assigned to jfk instead jfk remains the busiest airport for the new york region today and is the 20th busiest airport in the world by passenger volume accommodating 62 551 072 passengers in 2019. it was also the sixth busiest airport in the u.s the year before jfk is also a hub for both american and delta acting as the secondary transatlantic hub for american and the primary transatlantic hub for delta [Music] jfk's website states that the airport serves more than 70 airlines its most popular domestic flight is to los angeles international and internationally the top destination is london heathrow the airport uses four runways and has six terminals newark has flights with more than 30 airlines its top domestic destination is orlando florida and the top international destination is paris charles de gaulle it has three runways and three terminals and lastly laguardia's website lists just 11 airlines that fly there the busiest domestic flight is to chicago o'hare laguardia only has a few international destinations and of those toronto pearson is the top destination the airport has two runways and four terminals [Music] with this breakdown we can see some clear differences between each airport and the role that each one plays in the new york region's air travel industry each airport offers a different selection of airlines and destinations helping to spread the demand for air travel more evenly across the three airports laguardia's relatively smaller size and unique flight restrictions keep it an important hub for shorter flights while jfk and newark hold larger shares of longer flights as well as almost all international travel to maintain each airport's place in the local industry all three are undergoing improvement and modernization projects jfk is getting two new international terminal complexes along with expanded taxiways and gates thanks to a multi-billion dollar investment from the state at newark a brand new terminal is being constructed to replace terminal a the oldest terminal at the airport meanwhile laguardia is being entirely reconstructed while remaining open to the public and when the 8 billion overhaul is complete the new laguardia will be the first new major airport in the country in 25 years according to their website laguardia has long been a disliked airport with pilots referring to it as uss laguardia since landing on its water surrounded runways is apparently like landing on an aircraft carrier in fact among similarly sized quote large airports it ranked dead last in a customer satisfaction survey by j.d power also in last place is newark in a jd power satisfaction survey on the nation's quote mega airports in this same survey jfk actually did a lot better coming in fifth behind only phoenix miami las vegas and denver [Music] no airport is immune to aviation disasters and these three airports are unfortunately no exceptions they have all seen a fair share of incidents but newark has perhaps suffered the most starting in december 1951 a string of three fatal accidents one in that month then one in january 1952 and then one in february resulted in the airport being shut down for several months a total of 119 people lost their lives into three accidents at jfk the second desmos aviation accident in u.s history took place on november 12 2001 when american airlines flight 587 enroute to santo domingo and the dominican republic crashed on the rockaway peninsula in queens the crash killed all 260 people on the flight in addition to five people on the ground it was caused by overuse of rudder controls which led to the vertical stabilizer snapping off the plane causing the plane to crash to the ground in a spin the worst accident involving laguardia is also connected to jfk on december 16 1960 two flights one from chicago o'hare on its way to jfk and one from dayton ohio on its way to laguardia collided in mid-air above new york city this resulted in both planes crashing in separate locations killing a total of 134 people on both planes and on the ground at the time this was the deadliest aviation accident in the world to finish off this video on a less depressing note here's a fun fact about each airport jfk is home to the ark a pet care center for traveling animals of all kinds at newark the original buildings were dedicated by amelia earhart and are on the national register of historic places and lastly the site where laguardia sits now used to be the home of gala amusement park which was opened in the 1890s by the steinway family yep the same steinway family famous for their pianos and that will do it for this quick crash course on these three airports whether you're planning your visit to or vacation from new york city or simply an interested viewer thank you for watching this video i'd really appreciate it if you subscribed and checked out my other videos on cities airports geography and more but if not thanks for stopping by anyway and have a great day

Channel: Chicago Geographer

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Id: fjueQpCUMcM

Length: 9min 9sec (549 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021