Delta spreads wings at LaGuardia Airport

In the first expansion of LaGuardia Airport in 40 years, Delta Air Lines yesterday launched a $160 million construction and renovation project to link terminals C and D.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Delta chief executive Richard Anderson outside Terminal D for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project.

The airline plans to expand service at LaGuardia by 60 percent, with 100 new flights and 26 new destinations by summer. Added destinations from LaGuardia are to include Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester.

The work is the largest expansion of the Queens airport since 1968. Work linking the two terminals should be completed by fall, and four moving walkways done by early 2013, said Joseph Perone, an airline spokesman.

The project's centerpiece is a 630-foot walkway bridge between the two terminals. Delta passengers will be able to walk to connecting flights -- albeit two football fields away -- without additional security screening. Shuttle buses are now used.

Delta began operating at both terminals March 25, when the airline took over space that once housed US Airways, and now has 26 gates at LaGuardia.

"We're going long and going deep," Anderson said of the airline's commitment to the New York City market. "We will be the best corporate citizen in the community."

Bloomberg touted the city's popularity with tourists as a reason to welcome Delta's additional flights. Last year, New York hosted more than 50 million visitors, he said.

"We're also confident more and more citizens will want to come to New York City on the new Delta flights," Bloomberg said.

The project also includes a new Delta Sky Club in Terminal C and expanded security lanes. The renovations will support 700 new permanent jobs, and the construction effort will bring 135 jobs to LaGuardia, Bloomberg said.

Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the city's three major airports, called Delta's expansion a "job creator" beyond construction and airport workers.

Out-of-town visitors spend "thousands of dollars in the city, in the state and in the region," Foye said. "That, in turn, creates thousands of jobs."Delta is also rehabilitating and expanding Terminal 4 at Kennedy Airport at a cost of $1.2 billion.