Senator Charles Schumer has announced that John F. Kennedy International Airport has been awarded nearly $7 million for taxiway improvements by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The federal funding will be used for improvements like pavement rehabilitation, which is intended to increase safety and cut down money wasted from delays at the airport. Taxiways S, SC SD and SR will benefit from the funding.
“This is great news for New Yorkers and anyone who has plans to travel through John F. Kennedy International Airport,” Schumer said in a statement. “These taxiway improvements will increase safety and obliterate many of the frustrating delays that we have all experienced at New York City’s largest airport. These funds will greatly improve traveling for New Yorkers and travelers across the world.”
FAA, under the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), awarded the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey a total of $6,910,152 for the taxiway improvements.
According to Schumer’s report, flight delays in the New York City area last year cost an estimated $4.9 billion in lost productivity, cancelled vacations, increased fuel costs and other economic impacts.
He also said that in 2007 the cost of domestic air traffic delays to the U.S. economy was as much as $41 billion. New Yorkers bear the brunt of the costs because New York City has the worst delays in the nation and city airports are the business intersection of the country, Schumer noted.
