LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport

LaGuardia Airport has been taking various strategies to improve its revenue base and its environmental position. Various airports in the United States are faced with the challenge of congestion hence many of these airports tend to initiate expansion plans to minimize congestion. These expansion plans of the facilities normally call for the need to strike a balance between the environment and the need to expand the airport facilities. Such initiatives normally consist of advantages as well as disadvantages. The paper will explore various pros and cons of such initiatives taken by LaGuardia Airport to strike a balance between environment and revenue generating advancement.
Pros
Expanding the facilities of LaGuardia Airport is likely to reduce the delays experienced at the airport since the airport is a very vital economic engine and a critical hub for domestic transport. The plans to redesign and expand the airport will ease the congestion currently experienced at the airport and also meet the demands of the today’s market. Several of weather-related delays will be significantly minimized In the event the layout of the airport is reconfigured. It will bring more employment for those who are seeking for jobs. Limited airport capacity has always been perceived as a constraint to expanding businesses.
Striking a balance between the environment and the need for expansion is likely to spur economic growth of New York as well as the entire nation. Economists argue that the public capital is one of the key ingredients for an economic region in any particular region.

Increased airport facilities will be able to accommodate more passengers, and more passengers will translate into increased revenue for the airport. Infrastructure for transportation has also been considered to be an important factor as far as growth is concerned. Expanding the airport would also increase the financial position of the airport.
Expanding airport facilities of LaGuardia Airport will improve convenience for various stakeholders as a result of improved efficiency of airport operations and spur significant growth in the air travel. The facilities of the airport will also raise the number of aircraft as well as the number of passengers that the airport may serve. It will also allow new services by accommodating more efficient and larger aircraft at the airport. Eventually, the air travel will experience an overall growth. However, undertaking such initiatives will have various benefits as much as they may also have the negative side.

Cons
Various airports have always been associated with noise pollution and various concerns have been raised about the issue (Wyatt, 2011). Noise pollution at the airport is already high hence taking such initiatives will only catalyze a problem that is already existing. Expanding the capacity of the airport would lead increased emission of carbon in the atmosphere. Therefore, it implies that such strategies are likely to increase the level of environmental pollution which is a global problem (Cohen & Coughlin, 2009). Strategies to expand LaGuardia Airport will force many people as well as many businesses to be displaced to give space for expansion. Such scenarios may call for court cases causing significant setbacks to the airport.
The cost of expansion may be reasonably high hence posing certain obstacles to the expansion initiatives (“Master Plan Design Competitions for LaGuardia Airport”, 2016). Expanding LaGuardia Airport will also require more space to accommodate the extra airport facilities that the airport intends to put in place. It implies that the population density of the location around the airport will be increased further. It is critical to note that during the expansion period, the airport is likely to be chaotic hence becoming a great challenge.
What LaGuardia Airport is Doing?
Various strategies are underway to improve their environmental position in their community and the revenue generating advancements. For instance, the New York Governor Cuomo in 2015 launched a master plan for the airport that includes rebuilding the central terminal as well as the redevelopment of the current terminals C and D (Rabinowitz, 2015). Besides, the expansion, the airport is also undertaking new developments and advancements to ensure community-friendly airport facilities that guarantee even bigger rewards for the community. For instance, the aircraft makers are developing and producing small airplanes that have fuel-efficient engines and airline-style flight displays to minimize the level of air and noise pollution. LaGuardia Airport is currently transforming itself into a unified airport having one main terminal, improved transportation access with best-in-class passenger amenities, more taxiways, and a future air train. Construction of new terminal B is also underway which is expected to create approximately 10,000 indirect jobs and 8,000 direct jobs (“Redevelopment – LaGuardia Airport”, 2016).
Conclusion
LaGuardia Airport has put various initiatives to improve their environmental position in their community and the revenue generating advancements. Such initiatives will also minimize congestion and take care of various environmental concerns. Although there is a need to expand LaGuardia Airport, the process of expansion consists of both advantages as well as disadvantages. Most of the disadvantages relate to environmental concerns hence the need to strike a balance between the environment and the need to expand of the airport.
Reference
Cohen, J. & Coughlin, C. (2009). Changing Noise Levels and Housing Prices near the Atlanta Airport. Growth and Change, 40(2), 287-313. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2257.2009.00476.xMaster Plan Design Competition for LaGuardia Airport. (2016). Panynj.gov. Retrieved 8 December 2016, from https://www.panynj.gov/airports/jfk-lga-master-plan-design-competition.html
Rabinowitz, J. (2015). Cuomo Reveals LaGuardia Airport Master Plan. Forbes, 1, 1-2. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonrabinowitz/2015/07/27/cuomo-reveals-new-laguardia-airport-master-plan/#7e4277164e3b
Redevelopment – LaGuardia Airport. (2016). LaGuardia Airport. Retrieved 8 December 2016, from http://laguardiaairport.com/redevelopment/
Wyatt, T. (2011). Balancing Airport Capacity Requirement with Environmental Concerns. Transportation Research Record: Journal Of The Transportation Research Board, 2206, 92-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2206-11