Ben Mutzabaugh

USA TODAY

Add Vice President Joe Biden to the list of folks who think LaGuardia airport could use an upgrade.

"If I blindfolded someone and took them at 2:00 in the morning into the airport in Hong Kong and said 'where do you think you are,' they'd say, 'this must be America, it's a modern airport,'" Biden is quoted as saying by the New York Daily News during a speech on infrastructure in Philadelphia.

"But if I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport in New York, you must think, 'I must be in some third world country.' I'm not joking," he added, according to the Daily News.

Biden was in Philadelphia on Thursday where he was delivering remarks on the need for infrastructure improvement in the United States.

Biden's visit was centered around Amtrak, which was unveiling a new electric engine for its passenger trains, according to NBC New York. But Biden also took the opportunity to call for improvements to the nation's ports and airports.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates LaGuardia.

The Associated Press writes "LaGuardia, along the Flushing and Bowery bays in northern Queens, is the closest of the New York area's three major air hubs to Midtown Manhattan, just 8 miles, and it handled a record 27 million passengers last year." It is the preferred New York City airport for many business travelers heading to or from Manhattan.

Officials from the Port Authority declined to respond to the Daily News on Biden's remarks.

Plans are already underway to upgrade the airport, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reconfirming last month a $3.6 billion construction project that would bring an entirely new central terminal and other upgrades to the airport.