Flying seems to be more grueling than ever before, what with extra baggage fees, long security lines, airline mishaps that include, but are not limited to violent attacks on passengers and, if you’re flying out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, constant congestion due to the facility’s extensive renovation project.
But wait, there’s more: Travelers and workers alike are now battling flies at LGA, one of the busiest airports in the United States.
It is believed that the $4 billion construction project is to blame for the increase in the mosquito population at the busy airport, the New York Post reported.
“I never saw it like this before. It’s pretty gross,” said a security guard who declined to give his name to the Post.
“I pay too much money for a flight to have little critters coming at me once I’m inside the airport,” said Franchesca Lewis, a traveler from Long Island.
The mix of the renovation and LaGuardia’s location on the Flushing and Bowery bays in Queens may be playing a role in the increase in flies, Julien Martinez of the city’s Health Department told the Post. “It’s getting warmer, and it’s been raining and humid,” he said.
While he said that the flies could be any one of the dozens of species that live in the city, none have been known to carry Zika, the sickness that has been plaguing many parts of the world for the past few years.
Exterminators were brought in by LaGuardia Gateway Partners, which operates Terminal B, the Post reported, and they have installed several bug zappers, removing areas where there is standing water and cleaning loading dock areas as well.
