JFK Goes Modern With New Terminal

New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport opens its first new terminal in 27 years Thursday when Air France and Japan Airlines start service from Terminal One.

In the next two weeks, Air Afrique, Lufthansa, Royal Air Maroc, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines will begin operating from the gleaming, glass-and-steel structure, followed by Greece’s Olympic Airways on Sept. 1. Other foreign lines continue to use Terminal Four, one of nine JFK terminals.

Terminal One will be the first in the U.S. to have a fully automated security system that can detect explosives, screen 100% of baggage and match passengers with baggage by computer, according to Arthur McMahon, executive director of the private airline consortium that built and manages the facility.

It will also have 92 check-in counters; the East Coast’s largest duty-free shop; 15 retail stores; a cosmetic-and-skin-care spa; pub and wine bar; restaurants ranging from fast food to sushi; a business center with fax machines; and data-modem outlets for personal computers. Mobile currency exchange carts that can be wheeled from gate to gate are also being tested out.

Above all, “it’s very spacious and airy,” McMahon said. “There’s natural light throughout the facility.” The terminal, financed by $434 million in revenue bonds, is part of an ongoing $7.4-billion public-private effort to rejuvenate the airport, its roadways and public transit.