Port Authority passes scaled-down Delta terminal plan at JFK

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey approved a scaled-down plan to redevelop Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport,—where Delta Air Lines Inc. is the anchor tenant—after the Covid-19 pandemic put a $3.8 billion expansion on hold.

The bi-state agency at its monthly meeting Thursday authorized a $1.5 billion first phase with the potential for expansion in the future. The Terminal 4 project, scheduled to begin before the end of 2021, would add two new gates for single-aisle airliners like the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 and eight gates for regional jets along with other terminal upgrades.

Delta would have an option until the end of 2024 to expand the terminal to 11 or 12 gates for narrow-body aircraft.

“It’s a vote of confidence in JFK and it’s a vote of confidence in the region. It is a vote of confidence in the ultimate return of air travel,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “But it also represents a 60% reduction in what we had originally planned for.”

Delta has planned to move its regional jets out of Terminal 2 and centralize operations at Terminal 4, the largest international terminal in New York, since 2010.

The Port Authority projects the first phase’s new gates would open in 2022 and construction complete in 2023.

JFK International Terminal, LLC Terminal 4’s operator, plans to borrow $1.5 billion, with Delta paying the debt service on $1.4 billion of securities. Debt service on the remaining $100 million would be paid from concessions and rental payments.