Delta Snags JFK Revamp Deal

The crowded, cramped and often chaotic Delta Air Lines terminals at Kennedy International Airport is going to get a revamp,  gaining approval today  for a massive $1.2 billion overhaul.

The board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey voted to approve a plan to allow Delta to build a new, state-of-the-art terminal space at Kennedy, with construction starting soon.

Delta is the country's largest airline and  has been vying to expand its presence in the tight New York market, where Continental and American Airlines are major players.  Currently, Delta handles about one-quarter of JFK's nearly 50 million annual passengers.

"John F. Kennedy Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, will continue its transformation into one of the nation’s most state-of the-art airports with the approval of this plan," Gov. David Paterson said.

The plan would see Delta moving out of its current home in Terminal 3 -- the former Pan Am depot -- and relocating to Terminal 4, where it would gain nine additional passenger gates and an expanded baggage claim and customs area.  

Once the new gates are built in Terminal 4, JFK’s existing Terminal 3 will be demolished to provide 16 additional aircraft parking spaces allowing Delta and other airlines to have increased access to their equipment and help alleviate congestion on airport runways and taxiways.

Delta would continue to send its domestic flights out of Terminal 2.

Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, “A world-class region demands a world-class airport.  Today's Board action - on top of our prior investments in runways, roadways, signage, parking, and AirTrain  - is the agency's latest effort to ensure that JFK is an airport for the twenty-first century.”

The expansion of Terminal 4 would not be completed until 2013 at the earliest, according to The New York Times. Delta will pay the bulk of the costs for the renovation, while the rest of the money will come from "Special Project Bonds" and "Passenger Facility Charges."

Should the plans proceed, Delta would follow American and Jet Blue in updating and modernizing terminals at JFK, one of the world's busiest airports.

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