All arriving flights into Terminal 2 at JFK Airport ceased over the weekend. The terminal building, which has been in operation since 1962 and is one of the last remnants of the original Idlewild Airport (as JFK Airport was formerly known), will soon be demolished. The demolition of Terminal 2 is the next step in a multi-billion-dollar renovation plan for the Queens airport.
When Terminal 2 was first built, it was the departure and arrival point for flights run by Northeast Airlines, Braniff, and Northwest Airlines, all airlines which have since ceased operation or been acquired by larger carriers. Terminal 2 was primarily used by Delta Airlines in recent years. Now that the terminal has closed, Delta will operate solely out of Terminal 4. JFK AirTrain Stations 1 and 2 will close on January 17th.
Terminal 3 was demolished in 2014 to start making way for New Terminal One, a 2.4 million square foot terminal that is part of the $18 billion JFK Vision redevelopment plan. The existing Terminal 1 will remain open until the first phase of construction is complete. When it’s done, New Terminal One will be the largest terminal at JFK Airport. The state-of-the-art, “sustainably designed and future-focused” terminal will feature 23 gates and more than 300,000 square feet of dining, retail, lounges, and recreational space. Local, minority, women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses (SDVOB) will be highlighted in the new space. The project broke ground in September 2022 and the first phase is slated to be finished in 2026. Renovations at JFK Airport follow major upgrades that have come to LaGuardia Airport in recent years, work that earned LaGuardia’s bathrooms a finalist spot on a list of America’s best bathrooms.
Terminal 2 is the most recent in a long line of decommissioned terminals to be demolished at JFK Airport, including the famous Worldport Terminal (Terminal 3), which served as the terminal for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). Another remnant of Idlewild that still remains is the TWA Hotel. Open in 2019, the hotel brought new life to the 1962 Trans World Airlines Terminal designed by Eero Saarinen. You can learn more about the New Terminal One project and all that is to come for JFK Airport here!
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Terminal 1 has already closed.
Next, check out 7 of JFK’s Demolished Jet Age Terminals
