Future ticket counter for Kennedy International Airport Terminal 1.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
It’s far from complete, but the new, $9.5 billion terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport is taking shape. Its first phase is scheduled to open in mid-2026.
It will replace the current terminal that opened in 1998.
The terminal will be Kennedy’s largest terminal and is now Weathertight. The tangled luggage conveyor belt structure has been installed, and you can make a future ticketing counter where customers will drop the cargo at airlines like Turkish Airlines, Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, China Airlines, Taiwan China Airlines and other airlines, and show their passports to the ticket seller.
Kennedy’s new terminal is under construction.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
The terminal will be only twice as high as the two LaGuardia airport terminals that have opened in the past decade – and will be dedicated solely to international travelers, developers say that’s key to the design.
“From the first paper to the paper… we have international clients in mind,” Jennifer Aument, CEO of the new terminal that developed the project, said in a press conference last month at the airport.
New luggage transport system for Kennedy New Terminal 1.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
CNBC and other media outlets in early July, led by Aument, part of what the company said, and could be one of the last Hardhat Tours before the Open House.
The project is part of the New York Port Authority, as well as a $19 billion overhaul of Kennedy International Airport in New Jersey. In addition to Terminal 1, the current Terminal 7 is currently located Alaska Airlines Ireland’s Aer Lingus will be knocked down into the new Terminal 6, with its first gate opening next year. By comparison, the conversion of LaGuardia Airport was about $8 billion.
As air traffic grows, airports across the country are competing to replace aging infrastructure.
According to a report by the International Airport Commission International North America, U.S. airports will need at least $173.9 billion from this year to 2029 to upgrade from this year to 2029.
“These investments (average nearly $35 billion per year) are critical to accommodating airlines and passengers, improving operational efficiency, improving service quality and customer experience, and meeting airport resilience needs,” it said.
Future baggage claim area for Kennedy International Airport Terminal 1.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
The new Kennedy Terminal 1 will open at the start of the 2026 World Cup, when some games will be held at the Metropolitan Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, about 30 miles.
More than half of the airlines of Kennedy International’s agency are changing terminals due to the construction of the construction, Aument said.
One thing she pointed out with the new design is: “A terminal full of light.” This means there is no basement customs line.
The new departure hall of Kennedy Terminal 1 is under construction.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
The departure hall, safety lane and customs will be located at the same level on the three floors, with the terminal featuring walls of sloping windows. Its design, led by construction company Gensler, should reminisce about the image of a butterfly, and the body splits the terminal into the middle.
The rack connecting the airport terminal and parking lot with the Queens train station is already running on the construction site and will be parked at the terminal when the facility is open.
The overhaul of Kennedy International Airport also includes improvements in roads around the airport, where traffic has been crawling around the region’s largest hub for years.
Kennedy’s future terminal is under construction
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
The 2026 mid-term Open at Terminal 1 will include the departure and arrival areas as well as the first 14 gates, all of which can receive wide-body aircraft for long-haul flights and will have a capacity of 14 million passengers per year.
When the rest of the project is completed, there will be 23 gates – 22 wide-body doors and a narrow door – narrow doors such as the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 aircraft – currently scheduled for 2030.
The final version of Terminal 1 will also have over 300,000 square feet of dining, retail, lounge and leisure space, with just over half, 180,000 square feet, for retail and dining only.
Future entrance to Kennedy New Terminal 1.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Aument said the airport will be the only airport in the United States that has cashless voluntary shopping. Usually, customers will make a tax-free purchase and then return it to them before boarding, but in this format they can take it away immediately.
The new terminal will also have its own microgrid with solar panels on the roof, and the developer said the facility will “have 100% (terminal) operation of 100% (terminal) operation in the event of a power interruption.”
