The historic Marine Air Terminal, now called Terminal A, is the oldest terminal at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, and the only part of its past and present that continues into the future.
The airport, in recent years the subject of scorn and complaint, is halfway through a transformation, with new terminals, roads, garages, a rail line and more. But the 1939 original terminal, now occupied by JetBlue, will keep its own familiar face.
And it’s not just the face: the interior lobby is a beautiful reminder of pioneer days of international aviation. The Marine Air Terminal was built as a base for the Pan Am Clippers, the flying boats that made the first commercial flights across the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Here’s what it looked like when it first opened.
The terminal’s history is reflected in historic panels on the walls; the mural above was added during a later renovation.
Along with JetBlue’s updating of the ‘working areas’ of the terminal, the lobby is getting a major clean-up and restoration, including the chunky image of New York Mayor LaGuardia, who championed the project.
And here’s the story of how the Mayor and the airport. In the early 1930s, Newark was the only commercial airport in the New York area, although you could buy a ticket to New York on those flights. LaGuardia bought one, flew from Chicago to Newark, and then refused to leave the plane since he was not yet at his destination, New York. The plane took him to Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn.
American Airlines then agreed to fly regularly to Floyd Bennett, but the route was unpopular because Newark was closer to midtown Manhattan. By 1937, work was underway on New York Municipal Airport in Queens, now named for its stubborn initiator.
