Delta Airlines on Friday broke ground on the $1.2 billion project that will enhance and expand Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The project is being undertaken in conjunction with JFKIAT LLC, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The new facility is designed to meet the needs of the world’s largest and most competitive aviation market with significant benefits to customers and employees.
The project will create a state-of-the-art extension to Terminal 4, in order to improve, renovate and upgrade its services in order to cope with the increasing demands of air travel. Currently Delta operates out of Terminal 2 for domestic flights and Terminal 3 for international service.
The expansion project will replace the outdated Terminal 3 for the benefit of the 11 million passengers the airline serves each year at JFK. The upgrades include dual taxiways, Delta’s inter-terminal passenger connectors between Terminals 2 and 4, nine new international gates for larger aircraft and an expanded baggage claim area.
The project will have a significant impact on New York’s economy. It is expected that the Terminal 4 expansion will create an additional 10,000 jobs in N.Y. by 2014. Currently, Delta’s operations at JFK generate 49,000 jobs regionally. Over the next 60 months, the Terminal 4 project will generate $500 million of personal income and $1.6 billion of economic output from purchases of goods and services.
Terminal 4 is currently operated by JFKIAT LLC, which is a subsidiary of NV Luchthaven Schiphol, a Dutch company based in Amsterdam. JFKIAT is the only private, non-airline company to operate a terminal at JKF.
Delta Air Lines serves over 160 million customers each year. The air carrier offers service to 367 destinations in 65 countries in 6 continents. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and employs more than 70,000 employees worldwide.
