Senator Smith Applauds Delta Airlines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and JFK Air Terminal For Development Agreement of Airport Expansion

(St. Albans, NY) –  Today, Senate President Malcolm A. Smith applauded Delta Airlines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and John F. Kennedy (JFK) Air Terminal for announcing the development of expansion to Terminal 4 at JFK Airport. The $1.2 Billion project will create a state-of the-art facility.

Currently, Delta’s JFK operation employs 49,000 people in the NYC region. The Terminal 4 redevelopment project is expected to generate 10,000 jobs in the New York Metro Region by 2014.

“ I applaud Delta Airlines for adhering to the need of the community by expanding their terminal, which will result in the creation of thousands of jobs and bring billions of dollars to Queens. I am glad to be a part of an agreement that I worked on  for more than two years. It was a pleasure working on the project in conjunction with the Delta team. I would also like to commend Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward, Delta CEO Richard Anderson and Senator Shirley Huntley for their efforts in making this expansion possible,” stated Senator Smith.

Delta currently operates out of Terminal 2 for its domestic flights and Terminal 3 internationally at JFK. The expansion of Terminal 4 will replace outdated facilities and expand Concourse B at Terminal 4, with the addition of nine new international gates and the construction of a connector between Terminal 2 and 4. The expansion will also include larger areas for additional baggage claims and Customs and Border protection.

Construction is scheduled to begin September 2010. Development of the first phase and full relocation of Delta’s operations to Terminal 4 is expected in May of 2013.

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