Marine Air Terminal

Marine Air Terminal
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1109, 1110
Facade of the Marine Air Terminal
Location	La Guardia Airport, Queens, New York
Coordinates	40°46′25″N 73°53′09″W / 40.77361°N 73.88583°W / 40.77361; -73.88583
Area	less than one acre
Built	1939
Architect	William Delano
Architectural style	Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	82003397[1]
NYCL No.	1109, 1110
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 9, 1982
Designated NYCL	November 25, 1980

The Marine Air Terminal (also known as Terminal A) is an airport terminal located at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York City. Its main building, designed in the Art Deco style by William Delano of the firm Delano & Aldrich, opened in 1940. The terminal was built to handle Pan Am's fleet of flying boats, the Boeing 314 Clippers, which landed on the nearby Bowery Bay. Technological advances after World War II made the Clippers obsolete, and the Marine Air Terminal was renovated in 1946 to serve conventional planes. As of April 2024,^[update] the terminal is used by Spirit Airlines for flights to various destinations around the U.S.

The Marine Air Terminal was LaGuardia Airport's original terminal for overseas flights. It was highly popular in the 1940s, when LaGuardia was the only major airport in the U.S. which offered regular flights to Europe. Traffic dropped drastically after the larger Idlewild Airport opened in 1948, and Clippers stopped serving the terminal in 1952. The terminal then served as the airport's general aviation terminal for more than three decades, except for a short period in the 1950s, when it was used by Northeast Airlines. The Pan Am Shuttle service started operating from Marine Air Terminal in 1986. Delta Air Lines took over the service in 1991, operating Delta Shuttle flights from the terminal until 2017, after which it was used by various carriers. The terminal has been renovated multiple times throughout its history.

The main terminal building consists of a two-story circular core with a projecting entrance pavilion and a pair of two-story wings. The brick facade is painted buff, with black details, and contains a frieze that depicts flying fish. The three-story rectangular entrance pavilion contains a canopy and a set of doors leading to the terminal's main rotunda. The rotunda contains marble floors and walls, as well as the Flight mural by James Brooks. Both the interior and the exterior of the main building were declared New York City Landmarks in 1980, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. In addition, there was a hangar for seaplanes next to the main building, which has been converted into a garage for snow-removal vehicles.