New York City-area airports recorded their busiest September ever with 11.9 million passengers, remaining on track for a record year as commercial travel continues to rebound strongly after the Covid pandemic. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the year-to-date passenger count through September reached about 109.7 million. The total is 1.5 million higher than the same period in what proved to be a record 2023.
The recovery in travel is pushing airports nationwide to improve and increase taxiways, gate capacity and aircraft parking to prevent flight delays.
Newark Airport is undertaking a major overhaul of its terminals, air train and parking facilities under the Port Authority’s EWR Vision Plan.
The agency also engineered an $8 billion reboot of LaGuardia Airport, once rated one of the worst in the U.S. due to cramped hallways, a lack of amenities and flight delays. The facility was recently cited as the best U.S. airport by Forbes.
The New York Transportation Development Corp. recently sold an additional $400 million of municipal bonds raising a total of $1.95 billion to pay for the Terminal 6 project at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. The nation’s busiest airport, JFK saw 30.7 million passengers last year, including 16.3 million people on international flights. The new terminal is expected to open in the first quarter of 2026 – with a project completion date set for 2028. Development of the project involves the design and construction of a new ground transportation center, along with for-hire vehicle parking and a personal-vehicle loading area. Terminal 7 will be decommissioned and demolished.
Sources: Crain’s New York Business, Morning Star
