NEW YORK (AP) -- A new $1.1 billion American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport will have more than 100 ticketing counters, 36 gates, and be able to process up to nearly 1,800 people per hour through security when it is completed, officials said Wednesday at a ceremony marking the opening of the terminal's first phase.
The first part of the terminal is expected to open late next month, with a 57,000-square-foot ticketing lobby connected to the concourse by an underground tunnel. Passengers will also have access to the Admiral's Club airport lounges, which will feature vintage New York photos, as well as replicas of manhole covers embedded in the floor of the shower area. The terminal will start with domestic flights, as well as some international departures. International arrivals will wait until a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility is put in place in the main terminal, which the airline expects to happen in 16 to 18 months.
The company said the second phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in April 2007, and that the finished terminal would be the largest space at Kennedy Airport devoted to a single airline.
American Airlines serves 8.5 million passengers yearly at JFK.
