A new $3.9bn terminal will be built at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport in a return of public-private partnerships (PPP) that was earlier grounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under pressure New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced that a new deal had been reached with a private consortium to build a $3.9bn Terminal 6 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on the north side of the airport.
The awaited deal is taking place between JFK’s owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, --- and consortium JFK Millennium Partners (JMP) comprising JetBlue Airways, the operator of of Terminal 5 and JFK’s the largest carrier; Vantage Airport Group, an investor, developer and manager of airport projects; American Triple I (ATI), a minority- and women-owned developer and manager of infrastructure assets; and RXR Realty, a New York-based real estate developer.
Under the original deal, the project was supposed to start in the year 2020, but was abandoned after Covid-19 caused air traffic levels to plunge by as much as 98%. Passenger volumes are still 25-30% down on pre-pandemic levels, the governor’s office said.
Pending approval by its board this week, the Port Authority will sign a lease agreement with JMP for the construction of the 1.2-million-square-foot new terminal, with JMP taking care of most of the finance part.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will spend a previously allocated $130m on enabling infrastructure for the project.
The New deal with JMP includes a 10-year emergency extension of the master lease for JFK Airport
Cuomo said the financial impact of Covid-19 is projected to result in a $3bn revenue loss for the Port Authority over the course of 24 months from March 2020 to March 2022.
The new T6 terminal will be raised on the sites of the old T6, that was demolished in 2011, and also the ageing Terminal 7, which will vanish after British Airways moves to Terminal 8.
The planned terminal will connect to Terminal 5 and have 10 gates. Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2022 and to open in 2025. Around 4,000 direct jobs will be created by the project, according to the governor’s office.
The new deal with JMP includes a 10-year emergency extension of the master lease for JFK Airport granted by the City of New York; the lease had been set to expire in 2050.
“At the height of the pandemic, when JFK Airport was seeing an unthinkable two percent of its pre-Covid record-breaking passenger volumes, we never lost sight of finding a path forward for this world-class terminal under Gov. Cuomo's leadership,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said.
Old Video On demolition of Terminal 6 , JFK !
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