Officials Break Ground On Delta's JFK Terminal After COVID Delays

JAMAICA, QUEENS — Gathered in front of a Delta airplane on Wednesday with shovels in hand, a group of elected officials and airline leaders broke ground on a $1.5 billion redevelopment of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

By 2023, the project will transform Terminal 2 and 4 into a single, amenity-filled terminal with 10 new gates — a scaled back version from the original terminal makeover plan, which was announced several weeks before the city went into lockdown.

The pandemic put former governor Andrew Cuomo's JFK overhaul on hold, since tourism — and airport revenue — plummeted. Governor Hochul, however, has set her sights on completing the four-part, $18 billion transformation of JFK.

"Despite some setbacks that are still with us we see a clear path, a clear runway, towards the future, and that means investing in jobs and opportunities at this moment," she said on Wednesday, alluding to the Terminal 4 revamp and the New Terminal One plan which she announced on Monday.

The city's economic recovery from COVID is part of the airport revamp plan, officials said, noting that the multi-billion dollar construction projects will bring thousands of jobs to NYC, including specifically to communities in the oft-overlooked area of southeast Queens where JFK is located.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who is co-chair of the JFK Redevelopment Community Advisory Council alongside U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, said that the airport's redevelopment is a "massive investment in the economic health of Queens," pointing to the project's "good-paying jobs."

"This radical transformation of JFK Airport will economically uplift Queens families for generations to come, while giving millions from around the world an incredible first impression of Queens, New York City and New York State as a whole," he said in a statement.

While parts of the project won't be fully completed until 2030, Port Authority executive director, Rick Cotton, pledged that all four major projects at JFK will be started by as soon as mid-2022, noting that the work is interconnected: consolidating Delta into Terminal 4, for instance, means that construction will be able to begin on the New Terminal One, which will be built where Terminal 1, 2, and 3 once stood.

"We are delighted to see this project move forward as a key part of our plan to transform JFK to the world-class airport that the region deserves," he said in a statement.

Related Article: JFK's Terminal One Set For Long-Awaited $9.5B Revamp, Hochul Says