JFK Airports Undergoes Renovation Worth $19 billion

Officials from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York announced their new, expensive plans to renovate the airport on April 24.

These new plans, however, will turn the entire airport and surrounding area into a building site. It will be difficult for passengers and drivers to get to their terminals or to pick up or drop off others.

Newly outlined plans

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director, who is responsible for the construction and renovations of the new airport spoke about the plans. Rick Cotton explained the recently announced $19 billion renovations, saying:

"This is a massive undertaking."

In conjunction with the renovations, the Port Authority will also open an airport operation center. The traffic engineers will be able to monitor the conditions round-the-clock. Jessica Forse is the JFK Redevelopment manager.

"We might proactively mitigate and push all the traffic down from the departures to the arrivals level."

The airport construction near LaGuardia Airport took five years. During peak hours, the traffic was so bad that passengers would walk on the highway in order to get to their flight. The passengers could get to the security check in faster by walking along the standing traffic.

Specific plans were revealed on 24 April. Port Authority officials announced the plans will be divided into four major upgrades that each focus on a specific terminal.

Project Outline

This is the largest phase. The project budget is $19 billion, and this phase will take up $9.5 billion. This phase involves rebuilding and renovating Terminal 1 currently in place.

Terminal 1 will take up the space occupied by Terminal 2, the oldest terminal at the airport, which closed on 15 January this year. Later, the terminal was demolished to make way for renovations at Terminal 1. The airport will soon have a new international terminal.

The Terminal 1 will be located at JFK in the former Terminal 3 space. The area was formerly known as Pan Am Worldport. Terminal 1's total area will be more than 2.4 million square foot. It is about the same size of the two new terminals recently opened at the LaGuardia airport (LGA).

The second terminal includes renovations for Terminal 4, the Delta Air Lines terminal. The total budget for the project was $1.5 billion. These renovations were completed in the first half of this year.

The Terminal 4 improvements include a new check in area, Sky Club Express and Sky Club Express Express, as well as two new Delta Sky Clubs.

Terminal 6 is the third terminal in this project. JetBlue and other major airlines are investing in this terminal. Early March saw the breaking of ground for a new terminal. The $4.2 billion renovation will add 1.15 million square foot of space. The upgrades include ten new TSA lanes and a shared taxi plaza with Terminal 5. They also include over 100,000 square foot of dining space.

Terminal 8 was the final terminal affected by Port Authority's major plans. The terminal was built by American Airlines and cost $425 million. It will be officially opened in December 2022. This terminal, which houses British Airways as well, was renovated to include a new check in area, three new lounges, and new gates.

Source: simpleflying.com