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New York Skyports Seaplane Base
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New York Skyports Seaplane Base
New York Skyports Inc. Seaplane base (IATA: NYS, FAA LID: 6N7) is a seaplane base in the East River VFR corridor in New York City, located at the foot of East 23rd Street between Waterside Plaza and Stuyvesant Cove Park. The seaplane base opened in 1939 and was later incorporated into the Skyport Marina that was completed in 1962. It is the only seaplane base in New York City.
The establishment of a new seaplane base at East 23rd Street was initially promoted in the mid-1930s by mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who wanted to renovate an abandoned pier on the East River that had been previously used as a terminal for ferries operating to Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
One of the original objectives of the new seaplane base was to provide a faster airmail link to Manhattan. At that time, Mayor LaGuardia had been advocating the designation of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as the eastern terminus of air mail instead of Newark Airport in New Jersey, but Newark Airport held an advantage because it had a shorter travel time for trucks carrying mail to and from Manhattan. A seaplane link between Floyd Bennett Field and East 23rd Street was proposed as a solution to cut the travel time between the Brooklyn and Manhattan. The new seaplane base would also be close to the Madison Square Station Post Office on East 23rd Street, which was connected by pneumatic mail tubes to the General Post Office across from Pennsylvania Station.
In addition to serving as an air mail link, the seaplane base was also planned to serve as a passenger link by ferrying air passengers between Manhattan and Floyd Bennett Field. It also aligned with Mayor LaGuardia's plans to develop aviation facilities closer to the center of the city.
Work on the new seaplane base began in March 1936. The facility was planned to accommodate eight planes loading or unloading at a time and included ramps that allowed seaplanes to taxi out of the water to the terminal or parking areas, a dock for flying boats, and a turntable. The design of the terminal building included a waiting room on the ground floor, a restaurant, observation lounge, and administration offices on the second floor, and a pilots' lounge and bedrooms on the third floor. A tower above the building would house facilities for radio, weather, and air traffic control.
The city had originally planned to close its two other East River seaplane bases—the Downtown Skyport at Wall Street and the Midtown Skyport at East 31st Street—to consolidate all operations to the new seaplane base at East 23rd Street, but ended up deciding to keep all three facilities in place.
Although construction work on the seaplane base at East 23rd Street had started in 1936, the facility did not open until 1939. The Brooklyn Times-Union speculated that construction was initially rushed because due to the receipt of a bid from an airline to operate a seaplane service between New York and Boston that summer. By March 1936, two airlines had bid for the use of the 23rd Street Skyport for regular service to Boston. In May 1936, engineers from the Dock Department estimated that the new seaplane base could open that August and noted that it did not need to be fully completed for the first passengers because initial volumes were expected to be light and there had been no further developments in the proposed airline service to Boston. They said that full facilities such as a glass-enclosed terminal would be completed later.
On October 31, 1936, Keystone Airlines began providing seaplane service to Bainbridge Street Wharf on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, but operated out of the Midtown Skyport. It was the first airline to provide intercity service from the seaplane base at East 31st Street. In December 1936, the Twenty-third Street Association held a luncheon and passed a resolution calling for a hearing with the city asking why the seaplane base at East 23rd Street had not been further advanced. A speaker at the luncheon from Keystone Airlines said that the present terminal at the Midtown Skyport was inadequate. Keystone Airlines operated service on the seaplane route between New York and Philadelphia from 1936 to 1940.
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New York Skyports Seaplane Base
New York Skyports Inc. Seaplane base (IATA: NYS, FAA LID: 6N7) is a seaplane base in the East River VFR corridor in New York City, located at the foot of East 23rd Street between Waterside Plaza and Stuyvesant Cove Park. The seaplane base opened in 1939 and was later incorporated into the Skyport Marina that was completed in 1962. It is the only seaplane base in New York City.
The establishment of a new seaplane base at East 23rd Street was initially promoted in the mid-1930s by mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who wanted to renovate an abandoned pier on the East River that had been previously used as a terminal for ferries operating to Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
One of the original objectives of the new seaplane base was to provide a faster airmail link to Manhattan. At that time, Mayor LaGuardia had been advocating the designation of Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as the eastern terminus of air mail instead of Newark Airport in New Jersey, but Newark Airport held an advantage because it had a shorter travel time for trucks carrying mail to and from Manhattan. A seaplane link between Floyd Bennett Field and East 23rd Street was proposed as a solution to cut the travel time between the Brooklyn and Manhattan. The new seaplane base would also be close to the Madison Square Station Post Office on East 23rd Street, which was connected by pneumatic mail tubes to the General Post Office across from Pennsylvania Station.
In addition to serving as an air mail link, the seaplane base was also planned to serve as a passenger link by ferrying air passengers between Manhattan and Floyd Bennett Field. It also aligned with Mayor LaGuardia's plans to develop aviation facilities closer to the center of the city.
Work on the new seaplane base began in March 1936. The facility was planned to accommodate eight planes loading or unloading at a time and included ramps that allowed seaplanes to taxi out of the water to the terminal or parking areas, a dock for flying boats, and a turntable. The design of the terminal building included a waiting room on the ground floor, a restaurant, observation lounge, and administration offices on the second floor, and a pilots' lounge and bedrooms on the third floor. A tower above the building would house facilities for radio, weather, and air traffic control.
The city had originally planned to close its two other East River seaplane bases—the Downtown Skyport at Wall Street and the Midtown Skyport at East 31st Street—to consolidate all operations to the new seaplane base at East 23rd Street, but ended up deciding to keep all three facilities in place.
Although construction work on the seaplane base at East 23rd Street had started in 1936, the facility did not open until 1939. The Brooklyn Times-Union speculated that construction was initially rushed because due to the receipt of a bid from an airline to operate a seaplane service between New York and Boston that summer. By March 1936, two airlines had bid for the use of the 23rd Street Skyport for regular service to Boston. In May 1936, engineers from the Dock Department estimated that the new seaplane base could open that August and noted that it did not need to be fully completed for the first passengers because initial volumes were expected to be light and there had been no further developments in the proposed airline service to Boston. They said that full facilities such as a glass-enclosed terminal would be completed later.
On October 31, 1936, Keystone Airlines began providing seaplane service to Bainbridge Street Wharf on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, but operated out of the Midtown Skyport. It was the first airline to provide intercity service from the seaplane base at East 31st Street. In December 1936, the Twenty-third Street Association held a luncheon and passed a resolution calling for a hearing with the city asking why the seaplane base at East 23rd Street had not been further advanced. A speaker at the luncheon from Keystone Airlines said that the present terminal at the Midtown Skyport was inadequate. Keystone Airlines operated service on the seaplane route between New York and Philadelphia from 1936 to 1940.
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