Landing Strip
Covid-19 Takes Bite Out of New York JFK Expansion Plan
- American Airlines has new digs at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport where a new 14-gate regional concourse debuted last week. The opening comes three months early and under budget for the nearly $400 million project, which is part of a larger $1 billion expansion of the airport. The concourse replaces Gate 35X — a ground-level bus gate serving 14 remote parking positions, something uncommon at major U.S. airports — that even the most partisan D.C. pols agreed to dislike.
- Not all the Covid-19 related airport news is good news. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has signed off on a Delta Air Lines proposal to more than halve its planned expansion of Terminal 4 at New York JFK. The now $1.5 billion project, down from $3.8 billion in February 2020, swaps 16 new narrowbody gates for just two new gates plus eight regional jet boarding positions. The expansion replaces aging Terminal 2 at JFK, which will be demolished. Construction could begin in the third quarter with the gates opening by the end of 2022.
- A consortium of Munich Airport, Meridiam and Strabag took over operations of the Sofia Airport in Bulgaria last week. The group holds the concession for the airport, including a commitment to build a new Terminal 3 within a decade.
- Asur, which operates airports in Mexico, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, reported its most recent quarterly revenues were down 30 percent year-over-year. Despite Mexico being largely open, traffic at Asur’s airports in that country was down 36 percent from last year. Traffic in Colombia was down 30 percent. Things were slightly better in Puerto Rico, where passenger traffic declined by 20 percent from a year ago.