New York, July 28 (IANS): New York governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a plan to completely rebuild the city's La Guardia Airport by 2021, a media report said.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport -- one of the busiest in the US -- in northern Queens, estimates the overhaul will cost about $4 billion, most of which will go toward tearing down the Central Terminal Building, rebuilding it in place and augmenting it with a grand entry way, The New York Times reported.

The project "replaces the airport in its entirety," Cuomo said on Monday.

According to the rebuilding plan, the airport buildings would be moved closer to the parkway.

The move would allow the creation of roughly two miles of new taxiways that officials said would help alleviate the airport's chronic delays.

Work is scheduled to start next year, and the first redesigned portion of the airport will open to passengers in 2019.

According to sources, La Guardia is frequently ranked as one of the worst airports in the US.