Airport Guide
New York JFK Airport
((History of New York JFK
The United States' busiest airport had modest beginnings, with just 1,000 acres of the Idlewild golf course given over to its construction back in 1943, giving it its original name. Five years later the airport received its first commercial flight and promptly changed its name to New York International, though traffic remained relatively quiet until the air travel boom of the 1950s and 60s.
Eight new terminals were built between 1958 and 1971, including the former Pan Am building and now Terminal 3, with its iconic elliptical roof. After being named after the assassinated president in 1963, expansion continued at a rapid rate, with the first supersonic Concorde service across the Atlantic touching down in 1977, while in 1986 JFK had overtaken the nearby Newark to become the country's busiest airport, a title it retains to this day in terms of passenger numbers.
At present, JFK is undergoing a £5 billion redevelopment, which will see a number of terminals revamped and others completely rebuilt, though there are no plans to expand on the current four runways.
Completed in 2003 after five years of construction, the AirTrain JFK now links each individual terminal with the New York City subway system as well as to regional commuter train services running to suburbs such as Jamaica Queens and Howard Beach, with stops at car rental offices along the way.
This means downtown New York can be easily reached at little cost in around half an hour, while travel within the airport itself is free.
Likewise, there are regular bus services between all parts of the city and the airport running at all hours of the day and night, though these are invariably slower without offering much in the way of timesaving in comparison to the subway.
Perhaps the best way to travel from the airport into the Big Apple is to jump into one of the city's iconic yellow cabs. Though it may be expensive - with a fixed one-way rate of around £23 currently in place, excluding the obligatory tip - it is nevertheless often quicker and offers spectacular views of the famous skyline that a subway train can never match.
The tarmac at JFK is dominated by JetBlue Airways, Delta Airlines and American Airlines, which account for 27.3 per cent, 18.6 per cent and 18.5 per cent of all traffic respectively.
The former of these three has prospered over recent years into the country's leading low-cost airline, offering cut-price tickets across the country, including to Florida and California, while also operating regular flights to the Caribbean and Mexico.
With almost one in five Americans heading abroad doing so from JFK, the airport's departure boards really do reflect the city's international heritage. British Airways offers several flights a day between the Big Apple and London, as well as other UK cities, while Air France and Lufthansa also serve Paris CDG and Frankfurt airports, three of the busiest and most lucrative routes in world travel.
Among the dozens of carriers operating out of JFK are Aeroflot, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, Alitalia, Air China, Aer Lingus and Air India as well as numerous US-based airlines, including Continental and Delta.
The United States' busiest airport had modest beginnings, with just 1,000 acres of the Idlewild golf course given over to its construction back in 1943, giving it its original name. Five years later the airport received its first commercial flight and promptly changed its name to New York International, though traffic remained relatively quiet until the air travel boom of the 1950s and 60s.
Eight new terminals were built between 1958 and 1971, including the former Pan Am building and now Terminal 3, with its iconic elliptical roof. After being named after the assassinated president in 1963, expansion continued at a rapid rate, with the first supersonic Concorde service across the Atlantic touching down in 1977, while in 1986 JFK had overtaken the nearby Newark to become the country's busiest airport, a title it retains to this day in terms of passenger numbers.
At present, JFK is undergoing a £5 billion redevelopment, which will see a number of terminals revamped and others completely rebuilt, though there are no plans to expand on the current four runways.
Travelling to New York JFK
Completed in 2003 after five years of construction, the AirTrain JFK now links each individual terminal with the New York City subway system as well as to regional commuter train services running to suburbs such as Jamaica Queens and Howard Beach, with stops at car rental offices along the way.
This means downtown New York can be easily reached at little cost in around half an hour, while travel within the airport itself is free.
Likewise, there are regular bus services between all parts of the city and the airport running at all hours of the day and night, though these are invariably slower without offering much in the way of timesaving in comparison to the subway.
Perhaps the best way to travel from the airport into the Big Apple is to jump into one of the city's iconic yellow cabs. Though it may be expensive - with a fixed one-way rate of around £23 currently in place, excluding the obligatory tip - it is nevertheless often quicker and offers spectacular views of the famous skyline that a subway train can never match.
Airlines Flying from New York JFK
The tarmac at JFK is dominated by JetBlue Airways, Delta Airlines and American Airlines, which account for 27.3 per cent, 18.6 per cent and 18.5 per cent of all traffic respectively.
The former of these three has prospered over recent years into the country's leading low-cost airline, offering cut-price tickets across the country, including to Florida and California, while also operating regular flights to the Caribbean and Mexico.
With almost one in five Americans heading abroad doing so from JFK, the airport's departure boards really do reflect the city's international heritage. British Airways offers several flights a day between the Big Apple and London, as well as other UK cities, while Air France and Lufthansa also serve Paris CDG and Frankfurt airports, three of the busiest and most lucrative routes in world travel.
Among the dozens of carriers operating out of JFK are Aeroflot, Korean Air, Turkish Airlines, Alitalia, Air China, Aer Lingus and Air India as well as numerous US-based airlines, including Continental and Delta.