JFK Breaks Ground to Create an Ultra-Modern International Terminal with “a New York Feel”

By Yehudit Garmaise

A huge, sleek, ultra-modern, 1.2 million square-foot International Terminal 6, on the north side of the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport, will soon replace an outdated structure that is 50-years-old, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week at the groundbreaking of the massive project.

The new and transformed “spacious, airy, and bright terminal will feature floor-to-ceiling windows, high ceilings, touchless technology, and automated TSA security lanes.” 

JetBlue, Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines are the airlines that will makes new homes in the 10 new gates in Terminal 6, which “will be as vibrant as New York itself,” said the governor with excitement. “This terminal will be a showcase and an opportunity for us to begin to tell incoming travelers our story,” will be told with architectural elements that depict New York landmarks and the displays of art created by New York-based artists.”

Shockingly, 100% of the $4.2 billion project is privately-funded, the aspect of the construction that the governor said, “is the best part.”

“Investing $4.2 billion into this project is a sign of belief, confidence that is important to show the rest of the world, that, yes, we have that mojo back,” the governor said. “We have the belief that this is money worth spending, and there will be a huge return on their investments.”

The investors are collectively named JFK Millennium Partners, which is a consortium that includes Vantage Airport Group, RXR, the New York real estate company, and JetBlue Airways, the project's airline sponsor.

"Great cities need great airports,” JFK Millennium Partners CEO and Vantage Executive Helena Williams said simply.

The space at JFK will be so transformed, Gov. Hochul said, that “people who have not come to NYC for many years will not know where they landed.” 

JFK, which Hochul called “the nation’s leading airport for international visitors,” and “the front door to our nation for the rest of the world,” is crucial to New York’s tourism industry, which took such a hit over the pandemic.

Now that “New York City is back,” however, Hochul said, tourism is back to 85% of what it was before the pandemic.

“That my friends, is progress,” the governor said with excitement. “Terminal 6 will be a gateway that rivals everywhere else.”

“Organized labor is the linchpin to getting this project done,” the governor said about the massive project that “will create 4,000 jobs, including 1,800 good-paying union jobs in construction.”

Not only will the renovation of Terminal 6 provide parnassah to so many New Yorkers, but, once completed, the new terminal, which Hochul called, “an economic engine” will provide more than 280,000 jobs and $17 billion in annual wages.”

 JFK Millennium Partners will develop the first phase of the reconstruction in the next three years. While the first gates will open in 2026, JFK’s new Terminal 6 will not be complete until 2028.