Sweden-Canada group picked for LaGuardia terminal work

New York

A GROUP led by Swedish construction company Skanska AB and a Vancouver-based airport operator have been selected to help finance, build and manage a US$3.6 billion replacement for LaGuardia Airport's 50-year-old central terminal.

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which operates the three major New York City-area airports, made the selection almost two years after soliciting bids.

The plans for LaGuardia, likened by US Vice-president Joe Biden to a facility in a Third World country, call for a new 35-gate terminal with more restaurants and lounges, stores, bigger gate areas and improved passenger and baggage screening.

LaGuardia, in the borough of Queens, is consistently ranked among the worst in the United States in cleanliness, design and delays. In 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo called LaGuardia's ranking a "disgrace" a…