John F. Kennedy International Airport is showing the 22 million passengers who travel through Terminal 4 every year some love.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s board members voted Thursday to allow the private operator of the terminal to move forward with its $3.8 billion expansion and upgrade plan, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Part of the discussion Thursday included a top Port Authority appointee noting that Terminal 4 scores low in nearly every passenger survey.
The Port Authority has planned to overhaul the airport’s central infrastructure to the tune of $1 billion, but private firms and airlines are on the hook for other costs, which are forecasted to run as high as a combined total of $13 billion.
Roel Huinink, CEO of JFKIAT, the company operating Terminal 4, said the $3.8 billion makeover is a pared down version of a larger plan that had involved the terminal expanding into a 5,000-acre plot, but Terminal 1’s operators won the bid for that land.
Terminal 4’s upgrades will include 16 new gates, a facelift for existing retail and dining areas, a larger eastern concourse and an overhaul of the terminal’s roads and main building. Delta Air Lines, which is a minority stakeholder in JFKIAT, will also move all of its services into the terminal. [WSJ] — Erin Hudson