JFK Airport Upgrades

John F. Kennedy Airport in the borough of Queens in New York City is about to get a major upgrade. A $3.8 billion renovation and expansion is planned for terminal 4, while another is on the chopping block, officials announced Tuesday.

The plan calls for a 500,000-square-foot expansion of JFK’s Terminal 4 that would add 16 domestic gates. It will allow Delta Airlines to move its entire operation into one place. It is currently split between Terminal 4 and Terminal 2. Once Delta’s move wraps up in early 2023, the Port Authority plans to demolish the 58-year-old Terminal 2. The expansion project also includes a new Delta Sky Club in Terminal 4’s Concourse A.

The project is one piece of Cuomo’s $13-billion effort to modernize JFK. It is one of the country’s busiest but also frequently rated as one of its worst. The project includes a modernization of  the JFK AirTrain and expansion of the Van Wyck Expressway which seems to have been under some kind of construction for years and years. It also calls for two new terminals. The roadway improvements will be completed in late 2025 with the other JFK Airport redevelopment projects.

“The Terminal 4 expansion will be another milestone in the transformation of JFK Airport, with upgrades that will give passengers the world-class experience they expect when flying into New York,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “When completed, our $13 billion project to modernize JFK will create a more unified airport and solidify New York’s position as the premier entry point to our country.”

All these improvements collectively will increase the airport’s capacity by at least 15 million passengers a year.