before passing through customs. The Daily Boston Globe wrote that the rotunda often saw as much traffic as a subway station during rush hours, with up to ten overseas flights trying to land nearly simultaneously at the busiest times. The Marine Air Terminal served 14 airlines; the overcrowded conditions had prompted one airline owner to purchase an old ferryboat and moor it next to the Marine Air Terminal. The improvements included the addition of a covered walkway, three gates for arriving passengers, and two gates for departing passengers. After the terminal reopened on November 7, 1946, it was renamed the International Air Terminal, serving all of LaGuardia's transatlantic flights. Meanwhile, Idlewild (now JFK) Airport was being built in southern Queens to accommodate international and transcontinental flights. The Port of New York Authority took over operation of LaGuardia and Idlewild airports in June 1947. That September, Port Authority officials suggested extending one of LaGuardia's runways by infilling an unused plot of land next to the International Air Terminal. The terminal served 314,000 passengers a year in 1948, much more than what it had been built to accommodate. Air traffic at the terminal started to decline after Idlewild opened in 1948. The terminal was renamed the Overseas Terminal in August 1949 because passengers frequently confused it with Idlewild, which was formally known as New York International Airport. In the years after Idlewild opened, most transatlantic flights at the Overseas Terminal were moved over to Idlewild. The terminal had become empty most of the time, and Pan Am, American Overseas Airlines, and Trans World Airlines were the only airlines still operating international flights from the terminal. Pan Am relocated most of its operations from the terminal in early 1951, and the last transatlantic flight from the Overseas Terminal departed on April 28, 1951. Afterward, only flights to Bermuda continued to operate out of Marine Air Terminal. These flights lasted for less than a year, and service from the Overseas Terminal ceased in February 1952. Around that time, the Flight mural in the terminal was painted over for reasons unknown even to James Brooks, the mural's own artist. Brooks did not learn that the mural had been painted over until after the fact. 1950s to 1970s According to The Wall Street Journal, the terminal was "quickly forgotten" after Clipper service stopped. The terminal was used mostly by private planes, non-scheduled flights, and military transports