John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK, FAA LID: JFK) is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. It is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is the busiest of the seven airports in the New York airport system, the sixth-busiest airport in the United States, and the busiest international commercial airport in North America. The airport, which covers 5,200 acres (2,104 ha), is the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Nearly 100 airlines operate from JFK Airport, with nonstop or direct flights to destinations on all six permanently inhabited continents.
JFK Airport is located in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Midtown Manhattan. The airport features five passenger terminals and four runways. It is primarily accessible by car, bus, shuttle, or other vehicular transit via the JFK Expressway or Interstate 678 (Van Wyck Expressway), or by train. JFK is a hub for American Airlines and Delta Air Lines as well as the primary operating base for JetBlue. The airport is also a former hub for Braniff, Eastern, Flying Tigers, National, Northeast, Northwest, Pan Am, Seaboard World, Tower Air, and TWA.
The facility opened in 1948 as New York International Airport and was commonly known as Idlewild Airport. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in tribute to him.
What would become known as John F. Kennedy International Airport opened in 1948 as New York International Airport though it was commonly known as Idlewild Airport (IATA: IDL, ICAO: KIDL, FAA LID: IDL) after the Idlewild Beach Golf Course that it displaced. It was built to relieve LaGuardia Field, which had become overcrowded after its 1939 opening. In late 1941, mayor Fiorello La Guardia announced that the city had tentatively chosen a large area of marshland on Jamaica Bay, which included the Idlewild Golf Course as well as a summer hotel and a landing strip called the Jamaica Sea-Airport, for a new airfield. Title to the land was conveyed to the city at the end of December 1941. Construction began in 1943, though the airport's final layout was not yet decided upon.
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About US$60 million was initially spent with governmental funding, but only 1,000 acres (400 ha) of the Idlewild Golf Course site were earmarked for use. The project was renamed Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport in 1943 after a Queens resident who had commanded a Federalized National Guard unit in the southern United States and died in late 1942. The renaming was vetoed by Mayor La Guardia and reinstated by the New York City Council; in common usage, the airport was still called "Idlewild". In 1944, the New York City Board of Estimate authorized the condemnation of another 1,350 acres (550 ha) for Idlewild. The Port of New York Authority (now the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) leased the Idlewild property from the City of New York in 1947 and maintains this lease today. In March 1948, the City Council changed the official name to New York International Airport, Anderson Field, but the common name remained "Idlewild" until December 24, 1963. The airport was intended as the world's largest and most efficient, with "no confusion and no congestion".
Early operations
The first flight from Idlewild was on July 1, 1948, with the opening ceremony attended by U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey, who were both running for president in that year's presidential election. The Port Authority cancelled foreign airlines' permits to use LaGuardia, forcing them to move to Idlewild during the next couple of years. Idlewild at the time had a single 79,280-square-foot (7,365 m2) terminal building; by 1949, the terminal building was being expanded to 215,501 square feet (20,021 m2). Further expansions would come in following years, including a control tower in 1952, as well as new and expanded buildings and taxiways.
Idlewild opened with six runways and a seventh under construction; runways 1L and 7L were held in reserve and never came into use as runways. Runway 31R (originally 8,000 ft or 2,438 m) is still in use; runway 31L (originally 9,500 ft or 2,896 m) opened soon after the rest of the airport and is still in use; runway 1R closed in 1957 and runway 7R closed around 1966. Runway 4 (originally 8,000 ft, now runway 4L) opened June 1949 and runway 4R was added ten years later. A smaller runway 14/32 was built after runway 7R closed and was used until 1990 by general aviation, STOL, and smaller commuter flights.
The first jet airliner to land at Idlewild was an Avro Jetliner flying from Malton Airport in Toronto carrying the world's first cargo of jet airmail on April 18, 1950. A 1951 policy instituted by the Port Authority effectively prohibited jets from landing at the city's airports. After tests demonstrating that it was no noisier than the loudest of the then-current propeller plane, approval was granted for a Sud Aviation Caravelle prototype to be the next jet airliner to land at Idlewild, on May 2, 1957. Later in 1957, the Soviet Union sought approval for two jet-powered Tupolev Tu-104 flights carrying diplomats to land at Idlewild; the Port Authority did not allow them, saying noise tests had to be done first.
In 1951, the airport averaged 73 daily airline operations (takeoffs plus landings); the October 1951 Airline Guide shows nine domestic departures a day on National and Northwest. Much of Newark Airport's traffic shifted to Idlewild (which averaged 242 daily airline operations in 1952) when Newark was temporarily closed in February 1952 after a series of three plane crashes in the two preceding months in Elizabeth, all of which had fatalities; flights were shifted to Idlewild and La Guardia, which were both able to have planes take off and land over the water, rather than over the densely populated areas surrounding Newark Airport. The airport remained closed in Newark until November 1952, with new flight patterns that took planes away from Elizabeth. L-1049 Constellations and DC-7s appeared between 1951 and 1953 and did not use LaGuardia for their first several years, bringing more traffic to Idlewild. The April 1957 Airline Guide cites a total of 1,283 departures a week, including about 250 from Eastern Air Lines, 150 from National Airlines and 130 from Pan American.
By 1954, Idlewild had the highest volume of international air traffic of any airport globally. The Port of New York Authority originally planned a single 55-gate terminal, but the major airlines did not agree with this plan, arguing that the terminal would be far too small for future traffic. Architect Wallace Harrison then designed a plan for each major airline at the airport to be given its own space to develop its own terminal. This scheme made construction more practical, made terminals more navigable, and introduced incentives for airlines to compete with each other for the best design. The revised plan met airline approval in 1955, with seven terminals initially planned. Five terminals were for individual airlines, one was for three airlines, and one was for international arrivals (National Airlines and British Airways arrived later). In addition, there would be an 11-story control tower, roadways, parking lots, taxiways, and a reflecting lagoon in the center. The airport was designed for aircraft up to 300,000-pound (140,000 kg) gross weight The airport had to be modified in the late 1960s to accommodate the Boeing 747's weight.
The International Arrivals Building, or IAB, was the first new terminal at the airport, opening in December 1957. The building was designed by SOM. The terminal stretched nearly 2,300 feet (700 meters) and was parallel to runway 7R. The terminal had "finger" piers at right angles to the main building allowing more aircraft to park, an innovation at the time. The building was expanded in 1970 to accommodate jetways. Nonetheless, by the 1990s the overcrowded building was showing its age and it did not provide adequate space for security checkpoints. It was demolished in 2000 and replaced with Terminal 4.
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines opened Terminal 7 (later renumbered Terminal 9), a SOM design similar to the IAB, in October 1959. It was demolished in 2008.
Eastern Air Lines opened their Chester L. Churchill-designed Terminal 1 in November 1959. The terminal was demolished in 1995 and replaced with the current Terminal 1.
American Airlines opened Terminal 8 in February 1960. It was designed by Kahn and Jacobs and had a 317-foot (97 m) stained-glass facade designed by Robert Sowers, the largest stained-glass installation in the world until 1979. The facade was removed in 2007 as the terminal was demolished to make room for the new Terminal 8; American cited the prohibitive cost of removing the enormous installation.
Pan American World Airways opened the Worldport (later Terminal 3) in 1960, designed by Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. It featured a large, elliptical roof suspended by 32 sets of radial posts and cables; the roof extended 114 feet (35 m) beyond the base of the terminal to cover the passenger loading area. It was one of the first airline terminals in the world to feature jetways that connected to the terminal and that could be moved to provide an easy walkway for passengers from the terminal to a docked aircraft. Jetways replaced the need to have to board the plane outside via airstairs that descend from an aircraft, truck-mounted mobile stairs, or wheeled stairs. The Worldport was demolished in 2013.
Trans World Airlines opened the TWA Flight Center in 1962, designed by Eero Saarinen with a distinctive winged-bird shape. With the demise of TWA in 2001, the terminal remained vacant until 2005 when JetBlue and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) financed the construction of a new 26-gate terminal partly encircling the Saarinen building. Called Terminal 5 (Now T5), the new terminal opened on October 22, 2008. T5 is connected to the Saarinen central building through the original passenger departure-arrival tubes that connected the building to the outlying gates. The original Saarinen terminal, also known as the head house, has since been converted into the TWA Hotel.
Northwest Orient, Braniff International Airways, and Northeast Airlines opened a joint terminal in November 1962 (later Terminal 2). It was demolished in 2023 to make way for a new Terminal 1.
National Airlines opened the Sundrome (later Terminal 6) in 1969. The terminal was designed by I. M. Pei. It was unique for its use of all-glass mullions dividing the window sections, unprecedented at the time. On October 30, 2000, United Airlines and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced plans to redevelop this terminal and the TWA Flight Center as a new United terminal. Terminal 6 was used by JetBlue from 2001 until JetBlue moved to Terminal 5 in 2008. The Sundrome was demolished in October 2011 to make room for additional gates at JetBlue's Terminal 5.
The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963, a month and two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. proposed the renaming. The now-renamed Kennedy International Airport was given the code KIA, which was changed in 1968 to JFK to avoid an association with the term killed in action in the Vietnam War era. The IDL and KIDL codes have since been reassigned to Indianola Municipal Airport in Mississippi.
Airlines began scheduling jets to Idlewild in 1958–59; LaGuardia did not get jets until 1964, and JFK became New York's busiest airport. It had more airline takeoffs and landings than LaGuardia and Newark combined from 1962 to 1967 and was the second-busiest airport in the country, peaking at 403,981 airline operations in 1967. LaGuardia received a new terminal and longer runways from 1960 to 1966. By the mid-1970s, the two airports had roughly equal airline traffic (by flight count); Newark was in third place until the 1980s, except during LaGuardia's reconstruction. Concorde, operated by Air France and British Airways, made scheduled trans-Atlantic supersonic flights to JFK from November 22, 1977, until its retirement by British Airways on October 24, 2003. Air France had retired the aircraft in May 2003.
Construction of the AirTrain JFK people-mover system began in 1998, after decades of planning for a direct rail link to the airport. Although the system was originally scheduled to open in 2002, it opened on December 17, 2003, after delays caused by construction and a fatal crash. The rail network links each airport terminal to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road at Howard Beach and Jamaica.
The airport's new Terminal 1 opened on May 28, 1998; Terminal 4, the $1.4 billion replacement for the International Arrivals Building, opened on May 24, 2001. JetBlue's Terminal 5 incorporates the TWA Flight Center, and Terminals 8 and 9 were demolished and rebuilt as Terminal 8 for the American Airlines hub. The Port Authority Board of Commissioners approved a $20 million planning study for the redevelopment of Terminals 2 and 3, the Delta Air Lines hub, in 2008.
On March 19, 2007, JFK was the first airport in the United States to receive a passenger Airbus A380 flight. The route, with an over-500-passenger capacity, was operated by Lufthansa and Airbus and arrived at Terminal 1. On August 1, 2008, it received the first regularly scheduled commercial A380 flight to the United States (on Emirates' New York–Dubai route) at Terminal 4. Although the service was suspended in 2009 due to poor demand, the aircraft was reintroduced in November 2010. Airlines operating A380s to JFK include Singapore Airlines (on its New York–Frankfurt–Singapore route), Lufthansa (on its New York–Frankfurt route), Korean Air (on its New York–Seoul route), Asiana Airlines (on its New York–Seoul route), Etihad Airways (on its New York–Abu Dhabi route), and Emirates (on its New York–Milan–Dubai and New York–Dubai routes). On December 8, 2015, JFK was the first U.S. airport to receive a commercial Airbus A350 flight when Qatar Airways began using the aircraft on one of its New York–Doha routes.
The airport currently hosts the world's longest flight, Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24 (SQ23 and SQ24). The route was launched in 2020 between Singapore and New York JFK, and uses the Airbus A350-900ULR.
Major robberies
The Air France robbery took place in April 1967 when associates of the Lucchese crime family stole $420,000 (equivalent of approximately $4.1 million in 2025) from the Air France cargo terminal at the airport. It was the largest cash robbery in the United States at the time. It was carried out by Henry Hill, Robert McMahon, Tommy DeSimone and Montague Montemurro, on a tip-off from McMahon. Hill believed it was the Air France robbery that endeared him to the Mafia.
Air France was contracted to transport American currency that had been exchanged in Southeast Asia for deposit in the United States. Their aircraft regularly delivered three or four $60,000 packages at a time. Hill and associates obtained a key to a cement block strong room where the money was stored. They entered the unsecured cargo terminal and entered the strong room unchallenged. They took seven bags in a large suitcase. The theft was not discovered until the following Monday.
The Lufthansa heist took place on December 11, 1978, at the airport. The robbery netted an estimated US$5.875 million (equivalent to US$29 million in 2025), including US$5 million in cash and US$875,000 in jewelry. It was the largest cash robbery committed on American soil at the time.
James Burke, an associate of the Lucchese crime family of New York, was believed to be the mastermind behind the robbery, but was never charged with the crime. Burke is also alleged to have either committed or ordered the murders of many in the robbery, both to avoid being implicated in the heist and to keep their shares of the money for himself. The only person convicted in the Lufthansa heist was Louis Werner, an airport worker involved with the planning.
The money and jewellery have never been recovered. The heist's magnitude made it one of the longest-investigated crimes in U.S. history; the latest arrest associated with the robbery was made in 2014, which resulted in acquittal.
Access
Rail
All lines of AirTrain JFK, the airport's dedicated rail network, stop at each passenger terminal. The system also serves Federal Circle, the JFK long-term parking lot, and two multimodal rapid transit stations: Howard Beach and Jamaica. While AirTrain travel within airport property is complimentary, external transfers at the latter two locations are paid via OMNY or MetroCard and provide access to the New York City Subway, Long Island Rail Road, and MTA Bus services.
Bus
As of 2025, only the Q3 bus serves Terminal 8. The Q6 and Q7 serve JFK's cargo terminals. The Q10, Q80 and B15 serve the Lefferts Boulevard station on the AirTrain and it includes a free transfer. Bus fares are paid via OMNY or MetroCard, with free transfers provided to New York City Subway services.
Vehicle
Vehicles primarily access the airport via the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) or JFK Expressway, both of which are connected to the Belt Parkway and various surface streets in South Ozone Park and Springfield Gardens. The airport operates parking facilities consisting of multi-level terminal garages, surface spaces in the Central Terminal Area, and a long-term parking lot with total accommodation for more than 17,000 vehicles. A travel plaza on airport property also contains a food court, filling station, and originally four Tesla Superchargers. These were later replaced with a new station with 12 stalls.
Taxis and other for-hire vehicles (FHV) serving JFK are licensed by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission. In 2019, PANYNJ approved the implementation of "airport access fee" surcharges on FHV and taxi trips, with the revenue earmarked to support the agency's capital programs.
Terminals
Overview
JFK has five active terminals, containing 130 gates in total. The terminals are numbered 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8.
The terminal buildings, except for the former Tower Air terminal, are arranged in a deformed U-shaped wavy pattern around a central area containing parking, a power plant, and other airport facilities. The terminals are connected by the AirTrain system and access roads. Directional signage throughout the terminals was designed by Paul Mijksenaar. A 2006 survey by J.D. Power and Associates in conjunction with Aviation Week found that JFK ranked second in overall traveller satisfaction among large airports in the United States, behind Harry Reid International Airport, which serves the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Until the early 1990s, each terminal was known by the primary airline that served it, except for Terminal 4, which was known as the International Arrivals Building. In the early 1990s, all terminals were given numbers except for the Tower Air terminal, which sat outside the Central Terminals area and was not numbered. Like the other airports controlled by the Port Authority, JFK's terminals are sometimes managed and maintained by independent terminal operators. At JFK, all terminals are managed by airlines or consortiums of the airlines serving them, except for the Schiphol Group-operated Terminal 4. All terminals can handle international arrivals that are not pre-cleared.
Many inter-terminal connections require passengers to exit security, then use the AirTrain to get to the other terminal, then re-clear security.
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 opened in 1998, 50 years after the opening of JFK, at the direction of the Terminal One Group, a consortium of four key operating carriers: Air France, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, and Lufthansa. This partnership was founded after the four airlines reached an agreement that the then-existing international carrier facilities were inadequate for their needs. The Eastern Air Lines terminal was located on the site of present-day Terminal 1.
Terminal 1 is served by SkyTeam carriers Air France, China Eastern Airlines, Korean Air, Saudia, and Scandinavian Airlines; Star Alliance carriers Air China, Air New Zealand, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Egyptair, EVA Air, ITA Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines, TAP Air Portugal, and Turkish Airlines; and Oneworld carrier Royal Air Maroc. Other airlines serving Terminal 1 include Air Serbia, Azores Airlines, Cayman Airways, Gulf Air, Neos, Philippine Airlines, and Viva.
Terminal 1 was designed by William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates. It and Terminal 4 are the two terminals at JFK Airport with the capability of handling the Airbus A380 aircraft, which Korean Air flies on the route from Seoul–Incheon and Lufthansa from Munich. Air France operated Concorde here until 2003. Terminal 1 has 11 gates.
Terminal 4
Terminal 4, developed by LCOR, Inc., is managed by JFKIAT (IAT) LLC, a subsidiary of the Schiphol Group and was the first in the United States to be managed by a foreign airport operator. Terminal 4 currently contains 48 gates in two concourses and functions as the hub for Delta Air Lines at JFK.
Concourse A (gates A2–A12, A14–A17, A19, and A21) serves primarily Asian and some European airlines along with Delta Connection flights.
Concourse B (gates B20, B22-B55) primarily serves both domestic and international flights of Delta and its SkyTeam partners.
Airlines servicing Terminal 4 include SkyTeam carriers Aeromexico, Air Europa, China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and XiamenAir; Star Alliance carriers Air India, Avianca, Copa Airlines, and Singapore Airlines; and non-alliance carriers Arkia, Caribbean Airlines, El Al, Emirates, Etihad Airways, JetBlue (late night international arrivals only), LATAM Brasil, LATAM Chile, LATAM Perú, Uzbekistan Airways, and WestJet. Like Terminal 1, the facility is Airbus A380-compatible with service currently provided by Emirates to Dubai (both non-stop and one-stop via Milan), and Etihad Airways to Abu Dhabi.
Opened in early 2001 and designed by SOM, the 1.5-million-square-foot (140,000 m2) facility was built for $1.4 billion and replaced JFK's old International Arrivals Building (IAB), which opened in 1957 and was designed by the same architectural firm. The new construction incorporated a mezzanine-level AirTrain station, an expansive check-in hall, and a four-block-long retail area.
Terminal 4 has seen multiple expansions over the years. On May 24, 2013, the completion of a $1.4 billion project added mechanized checked-bag screening, a centralized security checkpoint (consolidating two checkpoints into one new fourth-floor location), nine international gates, improved U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities, and, at the time, the largest Sky Club lounge in Delta's network. Later that year, the expansion also improved passenger connectivity with Terminal 2 by bolstering inter-terminal JFK Jitney shuttle bus service and building a dedicated 8,000 square-foot bus holdroom facility adjacent to gate B20. Also in 2013, Delta, JFKIAT and the Port Authority agreed to a further $175 million Phase II expansion, which called for 11 new regional jet gates to supersede capacity previously provided by the soon-to-be-demolished Terminal 2 hardstands and Terminal 3. Delta sought funding from the New York City Industrial Development Agency, and work on Phase II was completed in January 2015.
