At long last, New York’s major airports are getting some much-needed upgrades. We’ve already written about some of them, like LaGuardia’s rebuilt Terminal B, JFK’s upcoming new Terminal One, and Newark’s replacement Terminal A.
Out of the multiple megaprojects that are underway, few are bigger than JFK’s Terminal 6, slated to open in the first half of next year. The team behind the $4.2 billion project invited us to join a tour of the active construction site. We loved the behind-the-scenes look at a major terminal coming together, and we came away with a better understanding of what flyers can expect once it is completed.
There will be a HUGE passenger experience boost compared with JFK’s older terminals. T6 will showcase JFK’s status as a world airport, hosting long-haul international airlines from multiple continents along with a few domestic and low-cost airlines. The building will sport plenty of high-tech features, some for the sake of improved passenger experience, and others boosting the sustainability and efficiency of behind-the-scenes operations. Importantly there will be plenty to keep people entertained, including a standout list of lounges, outposts of multiple famous NYC eateries, and some great planespotting potential.
Read on for more of what you can expect when JFK’s Terminal 6 opens in a few months.
Setting the Stage For the New Terminal 6
JFK has hosted multiple iconic terminals over its storied history. The prior iteration of Terminal 6 was called the Sundrome. Built initially for National Airlines and designed by I.M. Pei, it opened in 1969 and was eventually demolished in 2011.
Since then, instead of a functional Terminal 6, there’s just been a gap between JetBlue-dominated Terminal 5 and the multi-airline hodgepodge of Terminal 7:
Terminal 7 (on the left side of the image above) is operated by JFK Millennium Partners, the same entity in charge of the upcoming Terminal 6. That operational overlap is convenient since Terminal 6 will eventually swallow up Terminal 7’s footprint.
Big-Picture Terminal Design
Because there isn’t much space between roadway and runway at this part of the airport, the new Terminal 6 has a relatively small space to work with. As a result it will feature a modest 10 gates, though nearly all of them are designed and optimized for widebody aircraft.
The terminal will be connected both pre- and post-security to JetBlue’s Terminal 5. We wonder if that proximity may sweeten the prospect of codeshares between JetBlue and some of the long-haul international airlines that move to Terminal 6.
Touring the Terminal
We recently got the chance to tour the Terminal 6 construction site, entering it from the side of the currently-operating Terminal 7.
We’ll walk you through our main takeaways from the tour, following the flow of departing passengers.
The pre-security portions of terminal prioritize functionality, with a design that struck us as sleek though not particularly unique or memorable.
To be fair, there isn’t much space for the front facade to make a bold architectural statement. There’s a lot packed into the area in front of the terminal, including three levels of roadways, a ground transit center, the AirTrain line, and a parking garage.
Addressing one of the bigger pain points of your average airport terminal, T6 features one of the largest departures curbs among JFK’s terminals, with a goal of preventing car congestion in the drop-off zone.
Because there isn’t much space in the terminal’s footprint between the roadway and the ramp, the check-in area has to make efficient use of limited area. The terminal’s check-in areas are fully flexible, with screens that allow different airlines to utilize any given desk at different times. It’s not a novel concept, but its one that T6 leans on more heavily than most other terminals we’ve seen.
One of Terminal 6’s main design strengths is its generous use of natural lighting. Throughout the building there are a set of massive circular skylights that will dazzle passengers with daylight.
Another cool design feature: the walk up to the TSA checkpoint offers sneak peeks of the ramp. Being able to see the aircraft and get excited about flying *before* security drudgery is one of many subtle ways that T6’s design impresses with its thoughtfulness.
In our opinion, the terminal’s design shines brightest in the post-security transit lounge. The highlight is the epic central space you descend into right after the security checkpoint. Even in its current in-progress state, we could tell how great this section of the terminal will look.
Here’s a rendering of the finished product, which includes a few of the sculptural elements that will enliven the passenger experience:
Because the terminal has only ten gates, you’ll never have a long walk from security to your gate. Large parts of the terminal offer floor-to-ceiling views of the ramp. The terminal looks out towards runway 13L/31R. That runway isn’t always in use, but there will still be plenty of interesting aircraft taxiing by even when 13L/31R isn’t serving as an active runway.
The T6 Lounge Landscape
In the image above you get a glimpse of some seating a level up from the main departures level. That’s one of the premium lounges planned for Terminal 6. A few will be operated by specific airlines, including Lufthansa group, Aer Lingus, and Cathay Pacific. In Cathay’s case, its Terminal 6 lounge will be its first-ever lounge at JFK. The Lufthansa lounge will offer boarding directly from the lounge, and the Cathay lounge may as well. One of the terminal’s lounges will be a terminal-operated common one for the airlines that don’t have their own dedicated Terminal 6 lounge.
The terminals most innovative lounge will be its planned arrivals lounge, located in the arrivals area after inbound passengers pass through customs and immigration. It will be a space where arriving passengers can grab a shower and a bite to eat before heading into the city, helping them get a more productive head start to their day. That lounge will open with one of the later phases of the terminal’s rollout, and we’re interested to learn more specifics about this unique concept as we get closer to the opening date.
A Spotlight on Local Flavor
Without a doubt, the dining scene is one of Terminal 6’s biggest strengths. Many US airport terminals focus on national chains, but JFK Millennium Partners has gone out of their way to recruit NYC-area hometown favorites, including some that have never had airport locations before. Those include “fine brining” chicken sandwichery Fuku, Americana mainstay P.J. Clarke’s, Di Fara Pizzeria, For Five coffee, and a Brooklyn Brewery taproom, to name just a few.
Execution is the make-or-break factor when it comes to food quality in airports, since the logistics can be much more complicated than at an in-city location. But with the slate of brands Terminal 6 has lined up so far, we’ll still plan on coming hungry.
A Focus on Technology and Sustainability
Passengers will appreciate cutting-edge tech at multiple points in their journey through the terminal, including state-of-the-art screening technologies at the TSA checkpoint. One feature we’re particularly excited about is the design of the gate areas. Instead of the usual monitor or two that you sometimes have to squint to read, the entire area around each gate will be a massive display, with larger text and also unique imagery.
Behind the scenes, there is a major focus on sustainable operations. The biggest carbon culprits at most airport terminals are the swarms of inefficient ground support vehicles. In a major positive deviation from the norm, Terminal 6 will feature fully-electric ground support vehicles. To further boost efficiency, instead of each airline operating its own ground vehicles, all the terminal’s airlines will use a common pool of vehicles.
The terminal’s design also utilizes rooftop solar arrays, advanced transparent insulation to reduce heat loss through the large skylights, and sustainably-sourced building materials. LEED certification is underway, but the designers’ goal is that the terminal earns LEED silver or gold status.
The Airlines of Terminal 6
So far there are 15 airlines that have announced plans to operate out of Terminal 6. Overall it’s an impressive variety of carriers, spanning multiple categories including long-haul European airlines, Asian airlines, a Middle Eastern airline, along with Frontier and Norse representing short- and long-haul low-cost carriers respectively. Some of the airlines listed below will move to Terminal 6 from day one, while some will make the move later in the terminal’s staged rollout.
IcelandAir and Avianca were the most recently-announced additions, and aren’t yet included in the graphic above.
Possibly the biggest airline-related Terminal 6 news has to do with an airline that doesn’t currently operate at JFK at all. United Airlines left the airport years ago to consolidate at its Newark hub, but has been eyeing a return. Earlier this year it announced a “Blue Sky” partnership with JetBlue that includes a few JFK slots for United starting in 2027. It looks like it will operate from Terminal 6, which will give it good proximity to JetBlue’s JFK operations.
The Timeline
Terminal 6 will open in phases. The first phase, which will include six gates, will open in the first half of 2026. Final completion for the terminal is slated for 2028. The neighboring Terminal 7 will remain in operation initially, though it will eventually get decommissioned and its footprint taken over by Terminal 6 as it grows. The final version of the terminal (seen in the left side of the image below) will be connected both pre- and post-security to Terminal 5 (seen on the right side of the image below).
If all the photos in this story aren’t enough for you, check out this video with renderings of the final terminal, courtesy of JFK Millennium Partners:
We can’t wait to see the completed terminal ourselves! Until then, we’ll end this story with some forward-looking questions about Terminal 6’s future:
- If the start of United and JetBlue’s partnership goes well, is there enough space (in terms of both JFK slots and T6 gate space) for United to further expand its JFK operations in the coming years?
- Credit card lounges have been all the rage, especially in the past few years. Amex, Chase, and Capital One have lounges in JFK Terminal 4. But they’re known for significant capacity issues, and also aren’t easily accessible if you’re flying out of another terminal. Is it possible that a credit card lounge may take up one of the unclaimed T6 lounge spots? Another possibility is that one of the already-announced lounges (including the common-use lounge that will initially be operated by the terminal authority) could become a Priority Pass lounge.
- Once this phase of terminal construction settles down, JFK will have terminals one, four, five, six, and eight, but no terminals two, three, or seven. Will there eventually be a re-numbering of the terminals? It isn’t clear that a re-numbering would be worth the work, but until then the absence of those three numbered terminals is a bit conspicuous.
- The terminal division at JFK also doesn’t clearly follow airline alliances. Terminal 6, for example, will have quite a few Star Alliance operators, but also oneworld player Cathay Pacific and some domestic carriers that aren’t in the three major international alliances (Frontier and JetBlue). As the years go on, how might airlines shuffle between JFK’s terminals? In particular, the new terminal 1 also hosts a grab-bag of international airlines, and we could conceivably see some airlines move from T1 to T6 or vice versa.
- How will the terminal mediate airlines’ competing demands for the shared pool of ground vehicles, especially in times of increased demand or irregular operations?
