Redevelopment of JFK Airport

Opportunity

From its first flight in 1948, JFK International Airport (then known as Idlewild) has been the primary gateway airport for the United States.

The development of the airport included 10 terminals largely developed by airlines during the aspirational golden years of flying and the dawn of the jet age. It was a place of national and local pride and included terminals with outstanding architecture and innovation for its time. It even included three chapels where there were frequent marriage services.

Since then, traffic has grown strongly. While almost all terminals have been replaced, the introduction of terminal security after 9/11 and the lack of investment by airlines resulted in a decline in passenger service quality. As of 2017, handling 60 million passengers, JFK had slipped to number 59 among the world’s top 100 airports in quality rating.

That year, the Governor’s Airport Advisory Panel set out a “vision” for the redevelopment of the airport into a unified world-class operation. This includes increasing capacity by two-thirds and restoring its status to the top tier of airports.

Solution

Our overall task was master planning for a JFK Airport that could handle 100 million passengers per year in 2050, and program planning for $10 billion of near-term developments.

To achieve these targets, we undertook a range of activities including existing conditions assessment, forecast review, master planning across the whole airport property, and conceptual design for key elements. This was reinforced by our benchmarking of common features across world-class airports.

A key outcome of the benchmarking was the need for appropriate governance to ensure performance optimization. We then developed a wide range of governance actions related to the interfaces with stakeholders, the traveling public, the media, and within the organization. These were then rolled out into the upcoming contracts and protocols across all airports in the group.

Outcome

World-class airports are not about providing great facilities. They are about making the best use of the facilities. Each airport is different, but the changes needed to develop a new world-class JFK covered the development of great facilities with resilience coupled with enhanced governance.

The JFK Redevelopment Program is expected to create 9,600 direct jobs and more than 15,000 indirect jobs.

According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, “Once completed, the transformed JFK will provide an outstanding world-class experience to customers, optimized land and airspace use, expanded economic opportunities for the Borough of Queens and the region, and continued economic development for our neighbors through job creation, and environmental stewardship of local wildlife and preservation of recreation.”