Hi. Just a quick question for clarity.
Which airports does NY approach service exactly?
I fly into KLGA & KEWR a lot(but not JFK), and I wondered if I am suppose to be dealing with NY Approach for these airports? Or is it just if I’m going to JFK.
The reason I ask, is Center never passes me to approach for La Guardia & I can’t contact or request an approach to KEWR until I’m very close by so it seems useless.
I use a lot of charts and live ATC for the actual atis(for non-ATC apt), and it does mention contacting NY approach.
Thanks in advance 
You can see which airports they are “officially” servicing by tuning into the frequency and seeing the top left of the frequency menu. It’ll state the airports. Typically it includes the airport the controller is open at, and sometimes a few airports around it.
For the case of NY approach in IF (and to some degree Heathrow Director for example), “officially” a NY approach open at KJFK would service KJFK and KFRG. However controllers are allowed to, and often do service all NY area airports when it’s not extremely busy.
If center is active, they’ll hand you off to approach if the controller is providing service to LGA or EWR so you don’t need to worry about tuning in or not.
If center is not active, you should always tune into NY approach since you’re going through their airspace. They will provide you service if they want.
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Many thanks for the detailed response & understood
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