See inside JFK airport’s new $9.5 billion worldwide terminal

Metro Loud
7 Min Read


The long run ticket counter at JFK’s new Terminal 1.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

It’s miles from completed however the brand new, $9.5 billion Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York Metropolis is taking form. Its first section is slated to open in mid-2026.

It’ll exchange the present terminal, which opened in 1998.

The terminal, which can be JFK’s largest, is now weather-tight. Winding baggage conveyor belt buildings have been put in, and you may make out future ticket counters, the place prospects flying carriers like Turkish Airways, Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Air China, Taiwan’s China Airways and others will set down their baggage and present their passports to ticket brokers.

JFK’s new Terminal 1 below development.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

The terminal — set to be roughly the dimensions of the 2 new LaGuardia Airport terminals that opened previously decade mixed — can be devoted solely to worldwide vacationers, which the builders stated is vital to the design.

“From the very first pen to paper … we had the worldwide buyer in thoughts,” Jennifer Aument, CEO of the New Terminal One, the corporate creating the challenge, stated at a press convention on the airport final month.

The brand new baggage transport system at JFK’s new Terminal 1.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

CNBC and different media acquired a have a look at the development progress, led by Aument, in early July as a part of what the corporate stated will doubtless be among the many final hardhat excursions of the power earlier than opening day.

The challenge is a part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $19 billion overhaul of JFK. Along with Terminal 1, the present Terminal 7, at the moment dwelling to Alaska Airways and Eire’s Aer Lingus, can be knocked down for a brand new Terminal 6, whose first gates are set to open subsequent 12 months. LaGuardia Airport’s revamp, as compared, was about $8 billion.

Learn extra CNBC airline information

As air visitors grows, airports across the nation are racing to exchange ageing infrastructure.

U.S. airports want at the very least $173.9 billion for infrastructure upgrades from this 12 months by means of 2029, in keeping with a report earlier this 12 months by the Airport Council Worldwide-North America.

“These investments – averaging practically $35 billion yearly – are important to accommodate airways and passengers, enhance operational effectivity, elevate service high quality and buyer expertise, and fulfill airport resiliency wants,” it stated.

The long run baggage declare space at JFK’s new Terminal 1.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

The brand new JFK Terminal 1 is ready to open across the begin of the 2026 World Cup, when some video games can be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, about 30 miles away.

Greater than half of the airways at JFK are altering terminals within the coming years due to the development, Aument stated.

One factor she pointed to with the brand new design: “a terminal flooded with mild.” Which means no basement customs strains.

JFK’s Terminal 1’s new departure corridor below development.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

The departures corridor, safety lanes and customs can be on the identical degree of the three-floor terminal, which encompasses a wall of slanted home windows. Its design, led by structure agency Gensler, is meant to conjure the picture of a butterfly, with the physique splitting the terminal down the center.

The AirTrain, which connects the airport’s terminals and parking tons with practice stations in Queens, is already operating by means of the development website and can cease on the terminal when the power opens.

JFK’s overhaul additionally consists of roadway enhancements across the airport, the place visitors has crawled across the largest hub within the area for years.

JFK’s future Terminal One below development

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

Terminal 1’s mid-2026 opening will embrace the departure and arrival areas and the primary 14 gates, all able to receiving wide-body plane which are used for long-haul flights. It’ll have a capability for 14 million passengers a 12 months.

There can be 23 gates — 22 wide-body gates and one narrow-body gate — for planes like an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737s — when the remainder of the challenge is full, at the moment scheduled for 2030.

The ultimate model of Terminal 1 may also have greater than 300,000 sq. toes of eating, retail, lounge and leisure area, with greater than half, 180,000 sq. toes, only for retail and eating.

The long run entrance of JFK’s new Terminal 1.

Leslie Josephs/CNBC

Aument stated the airport would be the just one within the U.S. with a cash-and-carry duty-free purchasing. Sometimes, prospects make duty-free purchases which are returned to them earlier than boarding their flights. Nevertheless, on this format, they will take the purchases instantly.

The brand new terminal may also have its personal microgrid, with photo voltaic panels on the roof, that the developer stated will allow the power to have “full resiliency and upkeep of 100% [of the terminal’s] operations within the occasion of energy disruptions.”

CORRECTION: A earlier model of this story misstated the dimensions of the terminal.

Share This Article