A $10 Billion Makeover for JFK

John Hill

5. January 2017

All images courtesy of New York State

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has unveiled an ambitious plan for the transformation of JFK International Airport "to meet the needs of the 21st-century economy."

Yesterday's "vision plan" announcement focuses on three key areas:

Transform JFK into a unified, interconnected, world-class airport
Improve road access to the airport
Expand rail mass transit to meet projected passenger growth

Cuomo's announcement comes about six months after New York State broke ground on the $4 billion overhaul of LaGuardia Airport. Both LaGuardia and JFK, two of the New York metropolitan area's three major airports, sit in Queens: domestic planes fly in and out of LaGuardia at the northern tip of the borough while domestic and international are served by JFK to the south. Although JFK is only the fifth busiest airport in the United States (seeing 45% fewer boardings annually than Atlanta, the country's busiest airport), it welcomes more international passengers into the country than any other US airport.

Rendering of TWA Flight Center Hotel

Until Cuomo's announcement yesterday, the most high-profile project at JFK was the transformation of Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal into a lobby for the TWA Flight Center Hotel; that project broke ground late last year and is now under construction.

Although it's hard to argue with the need for upgrades at JFK (six areas of improvement are highlighted above), it's more difficult to get excited about the project as portrayed in preliminary renderings accompanying the announcement. As the project moves forward hopefully the design will change into something that is architecturally "world class."

Both LaGuardia and JFK are part of Cuomo's $100 billion infrastructure program that includes work on regional airports, bridges, subways, train stations, and other projects across New York State.