TAV Airports is interested in running New York LaGuardia’s (LGA) planned new $3.6 billion Central Terminal Building (CTB). The Turkish airport operator plans to apply jointly with shareholder, Aéroports de Paris (ADP), TAV’s CEO, Sani Sener, said this week.

“Together with ADP we will apply for qualification for operating rights to LaGuardia airport,” Sener told Reuters. 

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in October last year, for construction and operation of the planned new terminal.

 The existing CTB opened to the public in 1964 and was designed to handle eight million passengers a year. For several years, the terminal has operated above its capacity, which has affected levels of service, PANYNJ said. The authority forecasts that LGA’s passenger traffic will reach 34 million passengers by 2030, with 17.5 million passengers using the CTB.   

The programme will include the demolition of the existing CTB and associated infrastructure and the construction of a new 1.3 million square foot, 35 gate terminal building. The deadline for responses to PANYNJ’s RFQ is January 25. After this date, the authority will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP).

A spokesperson for TAV said: “After the qualification, we will have the RFP and understand the economics of the project.”

Airport World; January 16, 2013