A Southwest aircraft moves along a new taxiway at LaGuardia Airport, Thursday, May 20, 2021, in New York, becoming the first aircraft to pass beneath the pedestrian sky bridge that connects gates with the new Terminal B at the airport. The sky bridge, one of two, is part of a greater design and redevelopment that will deliver passengers to new gates and reduce gate delays on taxiways that have previously plagued the congested airport. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Construction continues at LaGuardia Airport, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in New York, as the airport continues to operate in close proximity to the rebuilding operation. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
LaGuardi_Airport_Photo_Gallery_77837 Passengers move about a spacious Terminal B of New York's LaGuardia Airport, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in New York. The terminal was opened on June 13, 2020 as part of a challenging architectural plan that is expanding the airport on no more acreage than before. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Passengers sit in a recently opened Concourse B at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, which offers modernized seating, a mix of shops, a children's play area, clubs and gates. Previous passenger areas of the central terminals were cramped and outdated, giving way to a challenging architectural plan that is expanding the airport on no more acreage than before. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
A mural, once covered by paint and then restored, highlights the main hall of the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 29, 2021, in New York. The historic building, where Pan American Airways' fleet of seaplanes known as flying boats or Pan Am Clippers unloaded passengers, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains the only active terminal in the nation that dates back to the first-generation of air travel. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Pedestrians pass an art installation by Sarah Sze, right, and a mural depicting New York City themes by Laura Owens, that adorn the open areas of the recently opened Terminal B, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at New York's LaGuardia Airport. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
A terra cotta flying fish, representing a Boeing 314 flying boat, endures on the facade of New York's LaGuardia Airport's Hangar 7, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Built in 1939, the hangar was a maintenance facility for Pan American Airways' fleet of seaplanes, known as flying boats or Pan Am Clippers. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
The model of a Flying Boat hangs from the ceiling of the Marine Air Terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. During the early days of flight, as far back as 1939, flying boats, or Boeing 314 Clippers, where the modern means of transcontinental travel. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Snow removal and other equipment rests inside New York's LaGuardia Airport's Hangar 7, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, built in 1939 as a maintenance facility for Pan American Airways' fleet of seaplanes, known as flying boats or Pan Am Clippers. Among the largest aircraft of their day, the Boeing 314 Clippers were used for overseas flights out of the Marine Air Terminal, adjacent to this hanger, that is still in use today for limited flights. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
A frieze of terra cotta flying fish adorn the roofline of the Marine Air Terminal, Monday, March 29, 2021, at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the terminal was designed by the firm Delano & Aldrich and today remains the only active terminal in the nation that dates back to the first-generation of air travel. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Restoration continues, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, on one of two hangars, at New York's LaGuardia Airport dating back to the airport's opening in 1939 and operated by American Airlines. A third American hangar was demolished in 2020 to clear the way for a new concourse. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
An original clock hangs on a wall, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in one of two hangars at New York's LaGuardia Airport dating back to the airport's opening in 1939. Operated by American Airlines, the hangers are undergoing restoration to keep their historic appearance and to continue serving as aircraft maintenance facilities. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
An older American Airlines logo adorns a wall, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in one of two hangars dating back to New York's LaGuardia Airport's opening in 1939. Operated by American Airlines, the hangers are undergoing restoration to keep their historic appearance and to continue serving as aircraft maintenance facilities. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Workers at New York's LaGuardia Airport walk atop a pedestrian bridge, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, that is under construction to connect the new Terminal B, left, to Concourse A, via the overpass. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Christopher Rhoads, Manager of Airport Operations/Aviation at LaGuardia Airport in New York, stands near an American Airlines passenger jet being served at gate 30, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, near newer construction at the airport, part of a multi-year, multi-billion dollar project that will modernize almost the entirety of the airport's departure and arrival terminals. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
Construction continues on a pedestrian bridge, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, that will connect the new Terminal B at New York's LaGuardia Airport, left, to Concourse A. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
People pass along a pedestrian bridge that connects the new Terminal B to Concourse B, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at New York's LaGuardia Airport. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
One of two colorful 25-foot-tall indoor fountains greets passengers, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at New York's LaGuardia Airport Terminal B. The fountains, part of an enhanced passenger experience, circulate 4,000 gallons of water through 450 individually controlled valves, which form the falling water into curtain-shaped floor-to-ceiling cylinders. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
People pass thorough a recently opened Concourse B, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The new concourse offers passengers a mix of shops, a children's play area, clubs and gates. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
AP Photo/Craig Ruttle
A Southwest aircraft moves under a stream from water canons at LaGuardia Airport, Thursday, May 20, 2021, in New York, after becoming the first aircraft to pass beneath a new pedestrian sky bridge that connects gates with a new Terminal B at the airport. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
NEW YORK (AP) — A multibillion dollar makeover of New York City’s LaGuardia Airport isn’t completely wiping away the airport’s storied past.
Quietly functioning on the nearly 700 acres of the evolving transport hub are some of the oldest continuously operating airport facilities in the U.S.
Just west of the gleaming hull of the airport’s new Terminal B stand two American Airlines airplane hangars that date back more than 70 years, to the earliest days of civil aviation and the advent of cross-country flights.
Farther west are Hangar 7 and the Marine Air Terminal, known as Terminal A, where terra cotta flying fish symbolize the Boeing 314 Clipper flying boats that skimmed across nearby Bowery Bay in 1939.
Hangar 7, once a facility for the flying boats, now houses snow removal equipment. The Marine Air Terminal continues to serve passengers, and the hangers are being upgraded and will continue to serve as an aircraft maintenance facility.
Those old facilities might be noticed by relatively few of the passengers returning to LaGuardia after the pandemic downturn.
The airport is in the midst of an $8 billion modernization effort that involves constructing 72 gates and two new main terminals to replace notoriously cramped corridors and ticketing areas. The work has been done even as flights continue to come and go.
It has been a swirl of construction activity for years, but the new facility has gradually emerged, in some places decorated with art and an indoor fountain that resembles a continuous light show.
Beyond the steel and glass of the new passenger halls, there are links to past and present.
Brilliant colors of massive murals from contemporary artists Laura Owens and Sabine Hornig depicting New York City scenes illuminate Terminal B’s interior. The human connection to flight and travel is honored in these modern narratives and in a restored Art Deco classic canvas inside the circular hall of the Marine Air Terminal that dates to 1939.
They allow us to visualize where we’ve been and where we’re going, all in one glance.
