No wonder La Guardia Airport is like “a Third World country” — as Vice President Joe Biden famously griped earlier this year.
Puny airports in states like Delaware, Wyoming and Arkansas get more federal funding per flyer than major hubs like JFK, Newark and La Guardia, a new report revealed.
Delaware landed an average of over $6,000 per flyer in federal airport-improvement grants — while those departing from New York airports only got a paltry $2.31 per passenger in the 2013 fiscal year, according to the Global Gateway Alliance analysis.
New Jersey did the worst of all 50 states — getting back only 86 cents from the feds.
“When the federal government gives almost $1.5 billion to airports that serve less than 1 percent of the nations’ passengers at the expense of New York and New Jersey, there is something seriously wrong,” said Alliance chairman Joe Sitt.
The airport-improvement grants are a top source of federal funding, and are used for major infrastructure projects.
The funding for states is skewed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s guidelines. The FAA allots 35 percent of its funds for airports that serve fewer than 10,000 people a year.
New York and New Jersey had over 63 million passengers take off in 2012, but got only $121 million in the 2013 fiscal year.
Delaware, West Virginia and Alaska got almost double — $216 million for lessfewer than 5 million flyers.Vice-president Joe Biden blasted La Guardia earlier this year, likening it something one would expect in “to a Third World country — and workers told The Post it’s actually worse.
The FAA said calculating grants by states is misleading because airports serve flyers from other states.
“Travelers from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania use Philadelpha International Airport,” it said in a statement.