LaGuardia Airport Critic Biden Upbeat On Redesign

US Vice President Joe Biden, who last year compared New York's LaGuardia Airport to "some third-world country," on Monday was back in New York to tout a project that will rebuild it from the ground up.

"It's the greatest city in the world, and it requires a 21st-century infrastructure," Biden said at a news conference of the airport, which consistently ranks among the worst in the United States.

Biden and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo highlighted the role of Delta Air Lines, the airport's biggest carrier, which has agreed to be a "full partner" in the redesign.

An existing USD$3.6 billion public-private partnership is already under way to rebuild LaGuardia's Central Terminal, notorious for its leaky ceilings, threadbare atmosphere and poor food and public transit options.

The plan calls for linking LaGuardia's new Central Terminal to Delta Terminals C and D.

"We look forward to working in partnership with the governor's design commission on a comprehensive and complementary redevelopment plan that realises our mutual goals and benefits all New York passengers," Delta's President Ed Bastian said in a news release.

The long-awaited overhaul of LaGuardia's Central Terminal took a step forward in May when officials selected a Swedish consortium, Skanska's LaGuardia Gateway Partners, to design, build, operate and maintain the project.

Eight miles from midtown Manhattan, LaGuardia handled nearly 27 million passengers in 2014.