A rendering of the New Terminal One At JFK
In September of 2022, construction of New Terminal One began at JFK, kickstarting the overall JFK airport renovations. The renovations will also include expansions to Terminal 4 and Terminal 8, a newly merged Terminals 6 and 7 building, and new roadways and parking structures. JFK has long been known as a bad airport, especially when compared to airports across other major cities, and these renovations hope to fix it and make it world-class.
However, concerns have been raised over the $19 billion cost and whether the project is enough to fix JFK.
One 9th grader said “[t]his project is worth the money. However, I really hope that the Port Authority doesn’t forget or run out of money for the planned PATH extension to Newark airport.” A PATH train extension from Newark to Newark Airport has been considered by the Port Authority for around 20 years, but it has never been done, and funding in 2023 was diverted to a future capital plan by the Port Authority.
Another 9th grader added that “…the project is doing almost everything right, though it does not really fix the issue with connecting flights and having to get out of the terminal and going through security again to connect to your flight. Maybe restructuring the security and immigration system to allow for people with connecting flights to stay in the terminal and use buses to transfer to another terminal if need be would make this project a lot more promising.”
Others disagreed, saying that “[t]he hate on JFK is really too much. Just because it isn’t the best in the world doesn’t mean it needs this renovation that will eat up a lot of money. This money could be used better to improve the bridges between NYC and NJ, which are very crowded with traffic at times.”
Overall, the general consensus of this project is that it is good and will help JFK greatly, though it could be made better with certain additions. In the end, only the result of the project will tell us if the time spent building it and the money spent will be worth it.