1939Dec, 2
New York City's LaGuardia Airport opens.
LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering 680 acres (280 ha) in its present form, the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, and among pilots is sometimes nicknamed "USS LaGuardia" in reference to its short runways surrounded by Flushing Bay, thus giving the feel of landing on an aircraft carrier.The airport primarily accommodates airline service to domestic (and limited international) destinations. As of 2019, it was the third-busiest airport in the New York metropolitan area behind John F. Kennedy and Newark airports, and the twenty-first busiest in the United States by passenger volume. While the airport is a hub for both American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, commercial service is strictly governed by unique regulations including a curfew, a slot system, and a "perimeter rule" prohibiting nonstop flights to or from destinations greater than 1,500 miles (2,400 km).Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, LaGuardia was notable for having obsolete and dirty facilities, inefficient air operations, and poor customer service metrics. Responding to these criticisms, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) in 2015 announced a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction of the airport's passenger infrastructure, which is expected to be complete by 2025.
Choose Another Date
Events on 1939
- 3Mar
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. - 1Apr
Francisco Franco
Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender. - 6Sep
Nazi Germany
World War II: South Africa declares war on Nazi Germany. - 14Dec
Soviet Union
Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland. - 24Dec
Pope Pius XII
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.