New JetBlue terminal to open at JFK

JetBlue’s new terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is currently undergoing a series of checks to ensure that it will be up and running by its scheduled opening on October 1.

The airline is in the final phase of its four-year, $743 million project of creating a new home base for its operations and a modern terminal for its passengers. The new terminal is also the first that’s been built since the September 11 terrorist acts and the design has taken into consideration new security requirements.

Among the features of the new JetBlue terminal is a security checkpoint that has 20 lanes, making it the largest screening area of any North American air terminal, according to the project’s director, Tom Kennedy, of the consulting and design firm Arup. Fully-automated bag screening and open spaces are also features designed to help with passenger flow through the security process.

The new terminal is connected to the Trans World Airlines terminal, a landmark design by architect Eero Saarinen, built in 1962 and closed in 2001, when TWA ended its operations. William D. Hooper Jr., the managing director of the architecture firm Gensler, commented that connecting JetBlue’s new terminal to the historic TWA site was a challenge.

“It’s an icon of 20th century aviation, and it was a piece of the puzzle,” said Hooper. “We had to respect it — we didn’t want (the new terminal) to have a looming presence.”

JetBlue is expecting to operate around 250 daily flights from the new terminal, more than doubling its current activity out of JFK’s Terminal 6.

www.jetblue.com