New York’s airports had another record year in 2018, with the Port Authority’s four commercial airports – John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and New York Stewart International airports – handling 137.9 million passengers. This breaks the previous record, set in 2017, by 3.8%.
Newark Liberty reported a 6.3% annual increase, JFK reported a 2.5% increase and LaGuardia saw its annual passenger volume rise by 2.3%. New York Stewart reported a 44.2% surge in traffic, driven in part by new, low-cost nonstop service offered by Norwegian Air to destinations overseas.
To accommodate future airport demand, the Port Authority and its private airport partners have committed $28 billion – the most in agency history – to maintain and build new airport facilities across the system.
At LaGuardia, an $8 billion rebuilding of the legacy airport is in progress, and in December, the first new concourse in Terminal B opened to the public.
Newark Liberty broke ground in October for a new Terminal One, which will replace the aging and obsolete Terminal A.
And at JFK, New York Gov. Cuomo announced a $13 billion project to rebuild the airport, including the addition of 4 million square feet to the airport’s north and south sides to increase airport capacity by at least 15 million passengers annually.
The first new gates of the redeveloped terminal are scheduled to open in 2023 with projected completion in 2025.
