In Defense of 'Third World' Airports in the U.S.
LaGuardia Airport in New York City Shutterstock
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U.S. airports are tireless workhorses. They handle more traffic than many international airports abroad because of the country’s large domestic air-route network, unlike many hubs in other countries.
Hate can be a powerful tool to unite the masses.
Just ask Donald Trump. He no doubt had even some of his harshest critics nodding along in agreement when, at the Sept. 26 presidential debate, he served up a takedown of US airports, calling out the New York area’s widely loathed trio.
“Our airports are like from a third-world country,” he said. “You land at LaGuardia, you land at Kennedy, you land at LAX, you land at Newark, and you come in from Dubai and Qatar and you see these incredible—you come in from China, you see these incredible airports, and you land—we’ve become a third-world country.”
Some of the newer international airports and terminals in resource-rich developing nations are incredible because they were planned during a period of strong revenue from oil and other commodities. The UAE and Qatar, for example, have been able spend big on infrastructure with large oil-fueled budgets, although the hurt from the two-year slump in oil prices is starting to show in both nations. They also have lower labor costs than the US does. And construction firms operating there have been accused by rights activists of subjecting migrant construction workforces to poor conditions, Citylab pointed out.
Indeed, many new projects that began when commodities were much more valuable seem impractical now. But they still make the US’s facilities look shabby by comparison.
Gas-rich Turkmenistan just unveiled a $2.3 billion international terminal, in the shape of a flying falcon, at the airport in Ashgabat. Never mind that the country receives few tourists.
On Skytrax’s 2016 list of the world’s top 100 airports, as voted by passengers, you won’t find a US city listed until 28th place, and that honor went to Denver International Airport. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) came in 59th place in the survey, up one spot from last year. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) ranked 91st; neither Newark Liberty International Airport nor LaGuardia made the list.
Leslie Josephs writes for Quartz, an Atlantic Media partner site where this article was originally published.
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