BY LINDA FREIRE – JANUARY 29, 2026
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s revised press release regarding airport renovations is a welcome clarification, particularly concerning the historic Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport. Opened in 1940 by Pan American Airways, the Marine Air Terminal is one of the nation’s most important aviation landmarks, representing the birth of transatlantic air travel and an enduring symbol of American innovation. Earlier suggestions that the building might be altered understandably raised concern among preservationists, the aviation community, the Pan Am Museum Foundation, and the Pan Am Historical Foundation.
The Port Authority’s commitment to “preserve the entire original Marine Air Terminal, including its rotunda and observation decks,” reflects responsible stewardship and sound judgment. By choosing preservation, the Port has demonstrated that honoring our aviation heritage and modernizing New York’s airports can go hand in hand, ensuring this iconic terminal remains a living reminder of America’s pioneering role in global aviation.
Linda Freire, Pan Am Museum Chair and former Pan American World Airways employee, loved the building where she worked for 12 years. “Walking in every morning, it was like when I would go to visit the Louvre in Paris or the Vatican in Rome,” she said. Her office was in LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal. That is an elegantly proportioned building with a spacious rotunda that handled the trans-Atlantic arrivals and departures in LaGuardia’s early days.”
