By Ivan Pereira
John F. Kennedy International Airport’s least-liked terminal will be razed and another terminal will undergo a major expansion as part of a $1.2 billion deal with Delta Airlines, airport officials announced last Thursday.
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey approved the plan by the airline to move from its old home at Terminal 3, which ranks lowest in the PA’s customer service surveys, to Terminal 4.
Terminal 4 will be renovated and expanded to handle more passengers and have the latest, high-tech security equipment, according to PA administrators while the former space will be torn down and used to house new jets, according to the PA
Gov. David Paterson said the project will help boost New York’s economy.
“The Terminal 4 expansion will not only help increase customer service for thousands of travelers and bring much-needed renovations and upgrades to handle the demands of 21st-century air travel, but it will create hundreds of construction jobs for New York residents,” he said in a statement.
Delta will move its international operations into a newly expanded Terminal 4 into nine new passenger terminals and up to seven existing gates, the PA said. Delta, headquartered in Atlanta, will occupy 16 of the 25 expanded gates, according to the PA.
Following the move, Terminal 3, which was built in 1960 for PanAm Worldport, will be demolished and provide 16 additional parking spaces for aircraft, alleviating congestion on the tarmac, which the PA said already ranks high among the nation’s airports.
“This is a game-changing deal for our customers and the entire regional aviation system,” PA Executive Director Chris Ward said in a statement. “It increases JFK’s capacity, vastly improves the customer experience and strengthens the economic competitiveness of the most important gateway in the country.”
Delta will reside in the new terminal for 30 years as part of the deal and the terminal’s expansion is scheduled to take three years, according to the PA. The demolition of Terminal 3 will begin immediately following the completion of the expansion and will take two years, the PA said.
No start date was given as of press time Tuesday.
Terminal 3 was built before the creation of jumbo jets and has been in need of major repairs for years, according to the PA. The agency said the project would create 6,400 jobs, $360 million in wages and $1.8 billion in economic activity, the PA said.
The project will be paid for by Delta, special bonds issued by the PA and passenger facility charges.
“We’ve been making significant investments in New York for several years now, and today’s announcement enables us to begin our next critical investment: our JFK terminal,” Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson said last week in a statement.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
