Editing Marine Air Terminal (section)

{{Short description|Terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City}}
{{about|the terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City|the general topic|seaplane base{{!}}marine aerodrome}}
{{good article}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                     = Marine Air Terminal
| nrhp_type                =
| image                    = Marine Air Terminal vc.jpg
| image_size               = 300
| caption                  = Facade of the Marine Air Terminal
| location                 = [[LaGuardia Airport]], [[Queens]], New York
| coordinates              = {{coord|40|46|25|N|73|53|09|W|region:US-NY_type:airport|display=inline,title}}
| mapframe         = yes
| mapframe-frame-width =  300
| mapframe-frame-height = 300
| mapframe-marker  = airport
| mapframe-zoom    = 13
| built                    = 1939
| architect                = [[William Delano]]
| architecture             = [[Art Deco]]
| added                    = July 9, 1982
| area                     = less than one acre
| refnum                   = 82003397<ref name="nris_1982"/>
| designated_other2_name   = New York City Landmark
| designated_other2_date   = November 25, 1980
| designated_other2_abbr   = NYCL
| designated_other2_link   = New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
| designated_other2_number = 1109, 1110
| designated_other2_color  = #ffe978
}}
The '''Marine Air Terminal''' (also known as '''Terminal A''') is an [[airport terminal]] at [[LaGuardia Airport]] in [[Queens]], [[New York City]], United States. 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 Clipper]]s, 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|post=,}} 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 [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|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 (colour)|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 (painter)|James Brooks]]. Both the interior and the exterior of the main building were designated as [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|New York City landmarks]] in 1980, and the structure 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.