| The New York Skyport was one of the first airports built in New York City, and it still exists to this day, where 23rd Street meets the East River in Manhattan.
"How do you fit an airport in Manhattan?!" you ask. Well, the Skyport isn't an ordinary airport... it's a seaplane base. In 1934, the Port Authority converted the area between piers 11 and 12 into a harbor where pilots from Long Island could dock their seaplanes. Ironically, even though it was financiers from The Hamptons using the skyport, the facilities had been built through funding from the Works Projects Administration.
After commuting by floatplane lost its cool factor (around the time helicopters became popular), the Skyport became a base for sightseeing tours of Manhattan. The company running these tours, SeaAir NY, was fairly successful for many years. Then, in 1997, the city government decided to ban intracity flights from using its airports and heliports, placing most airborne tour operators out of business. SeaAir was one of the last to go: it tried to take advantage of the new law by flying its tours through New Jersey's airspace, before the city took the case to court and won.
For a while, the Skyport was also used by Delta Air Lines for a special shuttle service to LaGuardia Airport.
Now, the Skyport is a marina where people go to charter luxury yachts. | 
