The airport that Joe Biden once said was more suited to a “third-world’’ country has a gleaming new terminal to show off.
For decades, La Guardia Airport was one of the most maligned airports in the country — leaky ceilings, cramped corridors, regular rodent sightings and broken escalators set a standard for the dreadful travel experience.
The old airport was so decrepit that Joe Biden, when he was vice president in 2014, famously likened passing through it to a trip to the “third world.” Travelers were even less charitable, deeming it “disgusting” and “crappy” in social media posts, an embarrassing port of entry to a global capital.
But on Thursday, the views and reviews were far different as state and local officials celebrated the airport’s revival upon the completion of a wholly new main terminal that shares nothing but a name and location with the old La Guardia along the Queens waterfront.
The transformation has been so remarkable that the terminal was declared the best new airport building in the world by an international panel of judges.
“We’ve really gone from worst to best and I love it,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, at a news conference in the last section of the terminal to open to the public, a sunlit skybridge that connects to 35 spacious new gates and offers a glimpse of the Manhattan skyline.
Despite the fanfare, the $8 billion overhaul of La Guardia is not yet complete. The construction of a second terminal by Delta Air Lines is scheduled to conclude by late spring, said Rick Cotton, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three big airports that serve the city.
But Mr. Cotton expressed relief at reaching another milestone in the yearslong campaign to revitalize the region’s airports. “I literally do not believe there was a single person who thought that the ambition to make La Guardia a world-class airport would be achieved,” he said.
Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, who said she worked as a flight attendant for five years after college, called the new terminal “a shining example of New York’s potential for a full recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic actually helped speed construction at the airport because it depressed air travel for much of the past two years, allowing major work without disrupting too many travelers. In 2020, the number of passengers using La Guardia dropped by nearly 23 million, or 73 percent, before recovering gradually through most of last year.
Still, some hurdles remain. Mr. Cotton had championed a separate project to build an AirTrain to provide a public transit connection that La Guardia has always lacked.
The Port Authority was pressing ahead with a plan to build one, at a cost of more than $2 billion, that would connect to the subway system and a commuter train line.
But Ms. Hochul — responding to criticisms of the AirTrain proposal, including an out-of-the-way route that would discourage riders — ordered the Port Authority to reconsider it. A review of alternatives, including the extension of a subway line, is underway with no schedule for a decision, meaning that faster travel options to the airport remain years away.
And the airport’s compact size, which is unlikely to change, and its location have contributed to frustratingly long flight delays.
Though Ms. Hochul basked in the glow of accomplishment on Thursday, the overhaul of La Guardia was muscled into action by her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned last year amid accusations of sexual harassment.
Mr. Cuomo had pressed the Port Authority to scrap a less-ambitious plan for renovating the airport and to create a gateway worthy of the nation’s biggest city.
Mr. Biden’s name came up repeatedly on Thursday. New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, recalled how Mr. Biden cited La Guardia as a “stain” on the city’s image, then added, “President Biden, just look at us now.”
But Mr. Cuomo went unmentioned and uninvited.
The requisite ribbon-cutting that followed the speeches — the fourth already since new sections of the airport started opening — was the first to include the city’s mayor. Mr. Cuomo did not get along well enough with the last mayor to share a stage with him.
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Kevin O’Toole, the chairman of the Port Authority, said that in his 4-and-a-half years in the role, this was “the first time I have seen a mayor of New York City and a governor of New York in the same room.”
The Port Authority, which is jointly controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey, also operates Kennedy International Airport in Queens and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Both those airports are a focus of the agency’s biggest-ever rebuilding campaign.
At Newark Liberty, a massive, $2.7 billion terminal is being built to replace Terminal A. At Kennedy, Ms. Hochul has endorsed the agency’s plans for an overhaul that would include construction of a $9.5 billion international terminal.
But La Guardia is much closer to the finish line. On Thursday, travelers with memories of how unpleasant the airport had long been marveled at the makeover.
“It’s like night and day,” said Annie Coakley, 46, of Chicago.
“When I got off the plane I was on a call with my brother and I said ‘Oh my God! They’ve done a big change here!’” she said. “The whole place is so bright and it looks very architectural, sharp, and it’s clean.”
Travelers used to race through the concourses trying to avoid making contact with any surfaces. Now they dawdle, watching the images projected onto a water fountain and taking selfies in front of art works that cover the walls.
“When you get off the plane it’s just so open and big,” said Chip Dehart, 53, of Phoenix, who was visiting with his wife, Saleta, 51.
“When we first started coming here it was really rundown, bathrooms were yucky, and we hated it for sure,” Ms. Dehart said. “I was just admiring the tile in the bathroom and it’s beautiful. The rainbow colors are beautiful.”
The enthusiasm was so contagious at the airport that Donovan Richards Jr., the Queens borough president, engaged in some magical thinking: “I don’t think La Guardia’s going to be the butt of any more jokes,” he said.
Precious Fondren contributed reporting.
