NY Gov. Hochul announces plans for $9.5B international terminal at JFK Airport

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had reached an agreement with financial sponsors to build a 2.4 million square foot state-of-the-art international terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Working with sponsor group the New Terminal One (NTO), the $9.5 billion project will anchor the south side of the airport and will create more than 10,000 jobs, the Port Authority said. Completed in phases, the project will be the largest international terminal at JFK. It is the fourth major terminal project announced by the Port Authority as part of a complete transformation of the airport.

“As we recover from this pandemic, I want to ensure that everyone traveling to New York has a welcoming and streamlined experience, and that New Yorkers have the modernized transportation hubs they deserve,” Hochul said. “The time to get large infrastructure projects done is now, and I’m committed to getting JFK’s brand new Terminal One underway and completed as soon as possible.”

The New Terminal One consortium is made up of private partners that will provide financing to cover the full cost of the terminal. The Port Authority will build the supporting road and utility infrastructure. The new terminal will be built on the sites of the current Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and former Terminal 3, which was demolished in 2013. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2022, and the first phase, which includes a new arrivals and departures hall and a set of new gates, is anticipated to open in 2026.

“The Port Authority is committed to rebuilding and transforming our airports into the world-class facilities the region deserves,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said. “The New Terminal One project at JFK will deliver on that commitment. Today’s announcement loudly proclaims the confidence the private sector has in the future of JFK Airport and of our region. At the height of the pandemic, when JFK Airport was seeing an unthinkable two percent of its pre-Covid passenger volumes, we never lost sight of finding a path forward for this world-class terminal that aspires to be one of the best on the globe.”